The Chosen of the Shinigami
by OneshotPrincess
Summary: *Challenge accepted from NHunter* Naruto was sealed and cut off from humanity by the Fifth Hokage, Danzo who overthrew the Third. Naruto never knew about the outside world...that is until the Shinigami decided to pay him a visit. *Full summary inside*
1. Prolouge

**A****/N:**This is a challenge by NHunter which I accepted. I think someone else also accepted after me and posted this before me while I was suffering from writer's block and a number of other diseases…but still, this is my take on the challenge.

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Background info: The seal Yondaime placed on Naruto wasn't perfect, far from it; yoki leaked from it in waves, destroying boy's chakra system around the seal: the boy was useless as a shinobi, but the power he contained should not be wasted. So the Fifth Hokage, Danzo, who overthrew old man Sarutobi mere days after he retook the post after Yondaime's death, ordered to seal the jinchuuriki deep underneath the village, deprive of any form of contact with the world around him and put seal arrays to drain Kyuubi's yoki from the seal. The plan to use the boy as the energy core to power village's defenses was perfect. Almost 11 years later, Shinigami, bored with his 'life' decided to check on his work. He wasn't pleased with what was done to it... So, now, Naruto, who never knew more than shadowy corridors of his subconscious and a gentle redheaded woman teaching him about everything there, has to face the real world...

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Danzo lithely stepped over the body of his former teammate, his face expressionless and calm. The Sandaime's face, by contrast, still had the look of disgust etched upon it. His unseeing eyes reprimanding Danzo.

Danzo paid no heed. Instead he looked out the window to Konoha. _His_ Konoha. Finally his. The village was dull and gray. The aftermath of the Kyuubi's attack still weighed heavily on the village. Reconstruction was barely taking place.

Tomorrow, when the Sandaime's death would be discovered, it would throw the village into even more disorder and chaos…and that would be Danzo's time to strike. And you could bet your ass Danzo _will_ strike. Hard.

The plan was perfect. The Kyuubi's attack…was unfortunate, but it was all in the name of restoring Konoha to its former glory. Glory only Danzo could bring.

"Danzo-sama" the shadowy figure behind him called. Danzo merely nodded to show he was listening.

"The Kyuubi-child-" the ROOT ninja sounded out of breath and he was rushing through his words as though his life depended on it. "Its-his...! I-I…!"

"Speak clearly!" Danzo sharp words immediately halted the agitated boy, curbing him into a brief silence during which he tried to regain his composure.

"It's gone crazy, sir. The baby-the Kyuubi container, I mean. It's almost as if…the Kyuubi hasn't been sealed at all," the boy tried hard to mask all emotion. He almost succeeded. Almost. Danzo's trained ears caught what others would have missed. The boy's voice was wavering with _fear_. Unacceptable.

"Call out all the fuinjutsu teams and specialists," Danzo ordered. "It seems that the Sandaime's unfortunate assassination will have to be discovered a little earlier than planned…"

"Ha-hai, Danzo-sama," The boy rushed and was gone within a second. Twice in a row, the brat had the nerve to present such blatant display of emotion. It irked Danzo but it was to be dealt with later. Normally, he would not tolerate such behavior but this boy was special.

A prodigy among prodigies. He had talent. With a little more training, he would be Danzo's ultimate creation. After all, the boy was his only defense against the _other_ genius that had so far dangled in the Sandaime's arms…

Danzo looked down towards the face of is fallen comrade. For a split second, his face showed the slightest hint of what might be remorse-but then it was gone.

"You were always too weak, Hiruzen."

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"I don't believe it!"

The dingy, secret pub was filled with no civilians, only jounin shinobi and kunoichi who seemed extremely grim. The news had spread like wildfire. It was only a matter of time before Konoha came on the verge of a civil war.

"I don't fucking believe it! They gave the title of _Hokage_ to that-that vile, evil-!"

"Hush, Anko. The walls have ears," a man stated. His face was obscured by a mask and his forehead protector covered one of his eyes.

"You can't just stay quiet and-!" the woman, Anko, cried out but the man halted her.

"You know what I mean," he stated. "Speak softly."

"I…don't like this," a kunoichi with crimson eyes confessed softly. "It unnerves me."

"So what's the story that's been going around?" a jounin with an unlit cigarette between his teeth asked.

"The Sand assassinated the Sandaime," the crimson-eyed woman answered.

"Bullshit," snorted another kunoichi with prominently sharp fangs.

Mikoto Uchiha, the only Uchiha present at this impromptu and disorganized meeting, spoke for the first time. Her voice was filled none of the swagger and confidence it usually held. In fact it sounded quite bleak.

"Bullshit or not, there is really nothing we can do about it. I mean, we are not even sure of what Danzo is a lie. We have no proof either way."

"Oh yeah, side with that jackass, why don't you? You and that traitor of a husband of yours!" the fanged woman spat.

Mikoto flinched but stood her ground. "Are you challenging me, Tsume?" she asked coldly.

None of the others stirred. They should have, this battle was nothing more than two outraged shinobi draining out their frustrations on each other, but they didn't. Each and every one of them was too tired and exhausted to feel motivated to do anything.

But they all snapped out of their individual reverie when the boy wearing a weasel mask and an ANBU outfit sitting quietly at the back raised a topic they hadn't quite discussed yet.

"What about the boy?" his cool, baritone voice washed over them. "The one who became the Kyuubi container? What happens to him?"

The masked man lowered his eye. "Sensei's son…"

Mikoto likewise whispered, "Kushina-chan."

And once the party fell into a grim and uncomfortable silence.

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**A/N:** Geez, it came out way too…dark for my taste. I'll have to improve it in later chapters. Anyway, like it? Hate it? Leave a review!

P/S: If you can't guess who the ANBU guy is, no COOKIES for you!


	2. A Day in Our Lives

**A/N:** The second chapter. Finally, right? Oh and I made a mistake in the first chapter. It should be fuinjutsu not kenjutsu. My bad. : P Also, I seriously need a beta! Please! Though I have no idea about how beta reading actually works.

A few reviews have asked me this question so I'll clarify it. This story is not yaoi. I'm sorry if any of you have been mislead that way. It's not that I have any problem with yaoi; it's just that this particular fic won't be yaoi.s

~/ *** \~

'_Naruto…'_

Naruto was floating. He felt at peace, warm and content. Nothing could go wrong now. What would go wrong? After all nothing _ever_ went wrong. It was always the same old same old.

'_Naruto…'_

But then, if nothing ever really happened, why did he have this nagging feeling in the back of his mind? That something would happen. Today, at this very instant perhaps? Something would change.

'_Naruto!'_

Naruto didn't like change. In fact, he barely even grasped the concept of change. Nothing ever changed around him. Nothing ever had any reason to. Naruto preferred it this way. No change…Nothing to fear. Naruto didn't fully grasp the concept of fear either. So…why was he suddenly feeling as though there were snakes in his stomach?

'_WAKE UP YOU DAMN BRAT!'_

Naruto woke up with a start. He was still floating. He gazed around stupidly in the dark as though he was searching for something. As always he discovered nothing. He was briefly disappointed but his mind consoled him. What did he expect to find? He was home already.

'_So, the zombie lives.'_

Naruto stood up in the muddy water and started walking into the darkness. There was nothing before him or behind except for a stretch of muddy water and an endless darkness but Naruto knew that if he walked long enough, he would eventually reach the same place. The gate where the voice came from. All roads led there.

Naruto felt a tugging sensation in his stomach and knew that he was getting close. Eventually he reached the place. The gate stretched endlessly. There was a piece of paper stuck onto it which was filled with strange markings but Naruto couldn't read. The enormous gate could not be opened-not that he had ever tried. That's just what the voice had told him.

A figure slipped from between the bars but came no closer. She simply leaned back against the gate and surveyed him with bright, boiling red eyes. This was it. This was the voice. His nee-chan. The only person he knew.

She greatly differed from himself. She was taller but much more graceful looking. Her body was more curved than his was. She had informed Naruto a long time ago that she was 'female' and he was 'male'. The meaning of those words escaped Naruto.

And she was red. A bright, fluorescent colour that sometimes hurt Naruto's eyes. It was one of the only two 'colours' Naruto recognized. The other colour was black.

'_Finally woke up, huh kit?' _

"What's a zombie?" Naruto asked immediately. He sat down in front of the gate and waited for an answer. She sighed.

'_A zombie is when you die and then come back alive as soulless killing machine.'_

"Die…that's when you…like…" Naruto started, confused.

'_Cease to exist,'_ she offered.

"And killing's when you…"

'_Make sure that other people cease to exist.' _

"Will I die someday?" Naruto asked interestedly.

'_Of course. Everybody dies. Except for people like me.'_

"Why won't you die?"

'_Let's just say that I'm special.'_

"Will everybody die?" Naruto waited for an answer but what he got was an irritated huff. Then Naruto remembered the one rule he had to follow. Nee-chan refused to answer the same question twice. "Sorry," Naruto apologized. "Where does 'everybody' stay?"

'_Out there.' _

"But out where? What do they do? Where do they stay?" Naruto asked eagerly.

'_Naruto, haven't you ever wondered if there was anything more than this? More than darkness and stinky water?'_

Mutely Naruto shook his head even though it was not true. He had often thought that maybe there was something more than his world but he always squashed these thoughts. They scared him. In here, he was safe and warm. Who knew what 'out there' was like?

'_Liar,'_ she accused him amusedly. Naruto felt his cheeks blush. He could never keep any secrets. It wasn't possible.

'_Listen up. The outside world is a grand place. It's full of life and colours and light! You meet people. Different kinds of people. Good people and bad people and-more often than not-really stupid people.'_

"How many people are there in the other world?" Naruto asked.

'_Millions, kit, millions! No two people are exactly alike. Some, like me, aren't even real people!'_

And this is how each and every one of Naruto's 'days' would begin. He would wake up, find his nee-chan and ask her about the 'other world' that she voice loved so much. Then he would listen to her explain about things that were incomprehensible to him. The thought of colours and animals and food and other people! The thought of rivers and valleys and mountains!

And though Naruto would listen, completely engrossed, any inclination he had to join this other world would be crushed completely by a strong powerful voice in his mind that shouted _NO!_

So each day passed the same way. Except that today, Naruto had a scary feeling that something was about to change.

~/ *** \~

Itachi Uchiha walked down the aisle soundlessly. The young assistant guiding him was looking behind towards him, fidgeting every few seconds. His presence unnerved him, Itachi knew. It amused him slightly. This one wouldn't last long. Danzo's regime on Konoha was one of complete, cold-hearted silence. Even for civilian assistants such as this one. If this could not be followed, you could not be a shinobi. At best, you would be dismissed. At worst, you would be executed for incompetence.

Harsh but effective, Itachi had to admit this much. Danzo had placed himself above the Third efficiently and without much doubt. He had been wholly supported by the village councilmen or (as his mother and Anko so affectionately dubbed them) the village dumbasses with a load of power. Sarutobi's previous teammates wanted to see his killer punished. The civilians merely wanted a powerful leader to direct them through these troubling times. Danzo obviously fit the bill.

The guide stopped in front of the Hokage's office and Itachi followed suit.

"The Ho-Hokage w-will meet you so-shortly," the assistant hurriedly excused himself. Bemusedly, Itachi wondered if his reputation really stretched that far. But the assistant should not even know if it really was Itachi underneath the mask. It was probably simply the general fear the public held for the ANBU.

The civilians were largely unaware of the war and things that went on outside the village wall. They did not know that Suna was slowly crumbling from Konoha's attacks. They did not know that Kumo was planning to withdraw its support of Suna from the war. They did not know that Kusagakure's economy was crumbling and that most of their shinobi were hiring out as soldiers in Konoha's mass military.

No news reached inside the walls just as no enemy attacks could ever hope to breach Konoha's defenses. They were safe, happy and secure. Not a care in the world.

However, even the unintelligent masses sensed a shift in the equilibrium when Danzo had taken power. They had realized, subconsciously, that things were not as they used to be. They developed an irrational (or perhaps extremely rational) fear of shinobi. They ushered away their children from the ones who attended the Academy. If their children displayed prowess at chakra control, they hid them away. They were eventually found out anyway. By law, all children with above average chakra capacity and control were required to become ninja.

All these were a subconscious effort of their minds to make them realize that Danzo was wrong. Something was wrong with the village and its shinobi. Something was strangely…_corrosive_ about the atmosphere. It was peculiarly suffocating. And Itachi Uchiha's mind was forming the vague suspicions of what exactly that something might be.

After nearly fifteen minutes of waiting, Itachi was finally called forth.

"Enter," the Hokage called and Itachi did.

The Hokage's office looked the same as it was twelve years ago except that the prized chair was now occupied by Danzo. Itachi bowed and did not speak.

This wasn't the real Danzo. Merely an illusion that was strong enough to fool most ninja. But Itachi was not fooled. He had no idea where Danzo's real residence was but it was not the Hokage Tower.

"Uchiha Itachi," Danzo addressed him cordially. Itachi removed his mask and kneeled.

"Hokage-sama, I understand that you called for me?" Itachi replied. If Danzo was addressing him by his given name (instead of 'Dog-Captain of the ANBU squad 12'), it meant that he required Itachi's personal services. Whatever was going to be said in this room was to remain between Itachi and the Hokage. Too bad Itachi was going to share this information with at least a dozen others.

"I trust that the mission was a success?" Danzo asked. Wordlessly, Itachi stood up and placed the mission report on the Hokage's desk. It would be official by tomorrow. Kumogakure would withdraw its support of Sunagakre. The Sand would be Konoha's for the taking.

Danzo skimmed through the pages of the mission report before setting it down. He offered no words of praise at how efficiently the work was done. Itachi never expected any. With Danzo, pure competence was a given. If Itachi had not been capable, he would not be standing here right now.

"I have a new mission for you," Danzo stated. Prompt. Itachi waited for elaboration.

"This mission is to remain covert. No one knows that it has been ordered. No one knows that it was you who carried it out. It is an assassination mission which will be carried out swiftly and silently. Do you understand?"

Itachi nodded.

"I have recently learned of civil unrest in my village. A couple of wayward shinobi are planning what could be called a 'revolution' against me. They are planning to overthrow me. Were you aware of this?"

Itachi's blood chilled. His heart skipped a beat but his face remained impassive. He was treading on dangerous territory. _Show no fear. Show no emotion at all._ Or else he was dead meat.

"I was not aware of this, Hokage-sama," Itachi replied evenly.

"I had thought that someone of your skills would have caught wind of this…development," Danzo said calmly. He was watching Itachi closely. He was waiting to see if there was going to be any slip-ups. Itachi Uchiha, however, never 'slipped-up'.

"Perhaps I should have noticed," Itachi conceded. Danzo raised an eyebrow. "Information gathering however, is not my specialty." Assassination is.

"I see," Danzo said. "My sources have informed me of a few names within this revolution. I need you to find them and eliminate them." Shit. Who was he going to have to kill? Kakashi? Iruka? Kurenai? The possibilities ran through his head rapidly, panic rising in his chest. His face revealed nothing.

"I trust you know Anko Mitarashi?" Of course. He should have guessed. Foolish, stupid, restless Anko would be the first to blow their cover. Damn. He still remained blank. He didn't clench his fingers or twitch at all. Nothing to show discomfort or fear.

"We have corresponded previously on occasion," Itachi said.

"She is a prime suspect in our list. Eliminate her," Danzo replied.

"Of course, Hokage-sama. Is there anyone else?" Itachi asked simply.

"Yes, we have one other. Her clan members reported her to me. We are not yet sure of her affiliations but why take chances? I need you to eliminate Mikoto Uchiha."

Itachi's throat went dry. He resisted the impulsive urge to swallow.

"Apparently, she has been acting most strangely. Her clan members think that she does not approve of their methods. The Uchiha are among my most trusted. If she is indeed a spy, things could become difficult for me.

"However, when you eliminate them, no one is to suspect that I know of the revolution. That would only fuel the mutiny. There is no room for mistake. Do you understand?"

Then, without the slightest hint of emotion or a flicker of upset movement, Itachi Uchiha bowed.

"I understand, Hokage-sama."

~/ *** \~

Anko Mitarashi was eating at Ichiraku Ramen instead of her favorite dango shop simply because she liked Teuchi. He always lent a sympathetic ear to her numerous problems. However, it was rush hour now and he was too busy to bother with Anko's problems.

So Anko slurped at her bowl of ramen noisily and dejectedly not expecting company at all. Thus she was completely taken aback when Itachi Uchiha of all people pulled up a chair and sat beside her.

He was still in his ANBU gear, she saw. He had simply thrown a jacket over it. She eyed him suspiciously. He ignored her. Instead he ordered his ramen and waited like an ordinary customer. He was not an ordinary customer.

His order arrived and he started eating. He completely ignored her but Anko knew that he had business with her. Why else would he bother picking the one seat beside her?

This bothered her. She felt a rising uneasiness at his presence. Had he come to deliver a message from Kakashi? Was tonight's meeting cancelled? Did she need to do something? Why wasn't the bastard talking?

"So," Anko started, annoyed and irritated at having to be the one to initiate conversation. "What's your day been like, Uchiha-san?"

He turned to face her and raised a thin eyebrow. Was he laughing at her or something? Anko thought angrily.

"It was fine," he replied simply and turned back towards his ramen and Anko let out the breath she didn't know she was holding.

"Well, my day was lousy," she grumbled to herself. He nodded at her. They didn't speak again for the rest of the meal.

Itachi finished before her. As he reached down to his pocket to pay for his meal, his fingers briefly brushed Anko's. Her eyes widened and she bit her lip to keep from crying out.

Itachi paid and left without another word.

~/ *** \~

Around the same time during sunset that day, emotions were running high.

Itachi Uchiha was sitting in his room, contemplating the best way to carry out or disobey his given orders.

Anko Mitarashi was in her apartment, trying to decipher the strange message Itachi Uchiha had scribbled onto her palm.

Naruto Uzumaki was debating whether or not to tell his nee-chan about his feelings of fright regardless of the fact that she already knew.

Kyuubi was growing both troubled and eager at the boy's strange sentiments of sudden change.

And the Shinigami decided to pay a visit to Minato Namikaze's life's work: his son.

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**A/N:** Like it? Hate it? Leave a review!

P/S: Is anyone else pissed at the new M-rating restrictions? I know I am.


	3. It Begins

The Shinigami was no stranger to human cruelty. One could almost say that after a billion years of bearing witness to that cruelty, he was bored by it. He had been sure that nothing would be able to surprise him. However, as it always happened every few hundred years, humans managed to find a way to shock him.

The sight before him nearly made the Shinigami feel faint. He had only wished to see how Minato Namikaze's son had turned out. Above all, the Shinigami respected sacrifice and he had thought that the ultimate sacrifice made by the Hokage would bear greater fruits than this. He had been wrong.

The child in front of him could hardly be recognized as Minato Namikaze's son and heir. The boy's scrawny, pale body was lying upon a stone slab covered with etched markings. His entire body was covered with signs and symbols as well. Even on his head, which was cleanly shaven, the symbols were present. They ran down the stone table and through the large cavernous room before disappearing beneath nine large doorways. Various tubes were attached to the boy's body; which were vital, no doubt, in keeping him alive in this pitiful state.

The original seal, the one placed by the Yondaime, had been completely ruined. Or perhaps it had never been that efficient in the first place. Either way, the original seal would be completely useless if the boy were to be released from the larger one.

If the Shinigami had not been so disgusted, he would have stopped to marvel at Danzo's genius. He had no doubt that the enormous seal suppressed all of the Kyuubi's chakra as well as the boy's own consciousness. The Shinigami could feel that the nine pathways spread out across the village-to the Academy, to the Forest of Death, to the village walls- and released Kyuubi's chakra in small bursts. The seals were effectively turning most shinobi into pseudo-jinchuuriki and making the village impenetrable.

The Shinigami frowned as he looked at the child's vacant face and felt a rare rush of sympathy. The wretched boy had never really lived at all. At that instant, the Shinigami made a decision. Striding over to the boy's head, he placed his fingertips on the child's temple.

The boy would not spend the rest of his life as Danzo's unwilling power supply.

~/ *** \~

There were only a few people who the Kyuubi hated as much as Madara Uchiha. One of them was Konoha's Fourth Hokage who had trapped her in this endless void. Another was the Shinigami who had helped the bastard seal her. Understandably, she was more than a little outraged when the latter materialized in front of her.

Ancient spirits such as the Shinigami demanded respect with their very presence but the Kyuubi was far too livid to care. She seethed with hatred when she saw his arrogant face from behind her cage and her tails rushed out to meet him. However, they stopped short a few metres from him, unable to stretch out and reach him. She fumed at this failure and let out a roar that shook the depths of Naruto's mental grotto.

"Hush," the Shinigami placed a finger on his lips. "You'll wake your cub."

Behind him, Naruto's mental image of himself was floating on the water, twitching, but mercifully still asleep. Kyuubi stopped short but hissed loudly. She reluctantly withdrew her tails back into the confines of her cage, keeping her venomous glare trained upon the Shinigami's face.

"You actually care about the boy," the Shinigami sounded half-amused and half-surprised. "This is unexpected."

"What are you doing here? What do you want from me?" she hissed spitefully, ignoring his previous words.

"Simple: I want to free you."

Of all the answers, this was not what Kyuubi was expecting. "You want to what?! Are you out of your mind?! Why would you want to free me when you're the one that trapped me here in the first place!" she screeched. In spite of herself, her mind began wondering on the bliss of being liberated from this hateful prison.

"I should have been more specific. I want to free the boy," he replied lazily and Kyuubi's hopes fell down. She lowered her head bitterly, ashamed that she had believed him. "I trust you know what they are doing to him out there?" he continued.

"I have a vague impression of it," she replied, her eyes narrowing. Despite her disappointment, she still felt eager to hear the Shinigami's plan. Naruto's freedom would, to a certain extent, be her freedom. And being a creature who longed for freedom, she had never accepted the state of Naruto's 'life'…If one could call it that.

"I plan to free the boy," the Shinigami told her languidly. "I plan to make him a champion of sorts. Think about it. He's one of the few last of the Uzumaki clan and a jinchuuriki of the infamous Nine-tails. Rotting away on a seal is a huge waste of that potential."

"Get to the point!" she snapped. "How do you plan to free him?"

"Not now," he stated. He met Kyuubi's glower evenly. "I will soon, but not just yet. Just be prepared to lash out at any given moment. I'll assemble the rest."

"You swear it? You will free Naruto?" Kyuubi asked urgently and the Shinigami's features softened slightly.

"I swear it," he promised solemnly.

~/ *** \~

It had been almost a day and a half and Anko Mitarashi was still no closer to figuring out Itachi's Uchiha's strange mess of scrawls upon her palm. Anko was not a particularly patient woman and her patience was currently wearing thin to say the least.

She was sitting at her kitchen table, eating some dango and staring at her palm. The scribbles seemed to taunt her, mock her for her inability to decipher them. Anko glared at her palm, as though she hoped that continuously staring would force the message to unveil itself.

The seal was a simple one. Anko had recognized it at once. Unfortunately, the simple seals were usually the hardest to break. The mechanism was not unlike a civilian safe box. The correct combination would unlock the hidden message. But what was the combination? What was it a combination of? Usually, these seals had some sort of clue hidden in the scribbles. Often, they simply required small amounts of chakra to be released in specific parts of the seal.

Anko often prided herself in her ability in fuinjutsu. However, if truth be told, her skills in seals were moderate at best. The only seals she completely excelled in were the summoning seals. Her entire fighting style depended on that. Orochimaru had made sure of that.

_Couldn't the damned Uchiha have made it easier? The jerk was just sitting there. Would it have killed him to just say a few precise words?_

Anko sighed finally and rubbed her eyes. She picked up her plate and placed it in the sink to wash it. As she did that, she unmindfully glanced at her thumb. The tip of it was always a little red and raw due the numerous times she had bitten it to provide blood for a summon jutsu.

And then it clicked into place. She turned her hand to look at Itachi Uchiha's seal. Could it be that it was a blood seal? Blood seals had been common during the last Shinobi War. Messages sealed in this manner could only be unveiled if the proper sacrifice of blood was given. Only the true recipient's blood could open them.

Eventually, shinobi had made a habit of keeping a vial of blood from any enemies they met. At one point, this had rendered blood seals useless because, dead or not, shinobi tended to spill a lot of blood during battle. Rumor had it, that the Village of the Bloody Mist had entire underground caverns filled with vials of fallen enemies.

Anko glanced tentatively at the seal before forcefully biting into her thumb, drawing blood. Then, following the pattern of the seal, she smeared the blood across the seal in a circle.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, the letters seemed to absorb the blood, swirling around to form perfectly legible letters.

'_Danzo suspects you. You are to be assassinated. Do not contact the others. You would only draw more suspicion. I will inform them.'_

Anko stared at the words, reading them carefully. She felt a cold sweat break out over her brow. Her blood had worked. However, seals like these could not work unless the maker already had a sample of the recipient's blood. The thought unnerved her. Briefly, she wondered who had been ordered to carry out her assassination. Then she realized that she already knew the answer.

~/ *** \~

Anko slept badly that night. Her slumber had been pierced by dark images of Itachi Uchiha murdering her in cold blood in over a million different ways. When she had first read the message, she had hoped that Itachi would not assassinate her. She had hoped that the others would intervene or find a way to secure her. The more she thought about it, however, the more she realized that this would not be the case.

She was a liability to them. The fact that she alone had been suspected among the dozens of others proved that. Their mission was of supreme importance. Their secrecy was vital. She knew that if someone else were to be discovered by Danzo, she would have agreed whole-heartedly to their death. That was the way of the shinobi.

To her, it seemed strange that Danzo, one who values information so highly, would order her to be assassinated. Why not have her captured and interrogated? Danzo had painful means of making someone spill their guts. Did he believe that she would not yield? If so, he was right. Anko would die a horrifyingly painful death-a true kunoichi's death-before betraying her allegiance.

By the time Anko went to bed, she had accepted her fate. She knew she would die and she did not mind it. Itachi Uchiha was too powerful for her and death was better than betrayal. Still, she thought grimly, she was going to give the Uchiha a good fight before going down.

In her nightmares, Anko dreamed of Itachi Uchiha and his cold eyes. She dreamed of faceless ANBU ninja carrying away her body. She dreamed of Danzo's cruel face and Kakashi Hatake's morose eye. She dreamed of Ibiki Morino's disapproving stare. _'You should have learnt to control your emotions better,'_ he seemed to say.

Finally, her dreams melded into each other and she found herself standing in a vaguely familiar landscape. She was surrounded by ancient trees. Moonlight was streaming through the canopy above. The place was beautiful but eerie. The most unsettling feature of all was the pale robed figure standing directly in front of her.

The figure was humanoid but strangely…inhuman. He had long white hair and equally stretched limbs. His face was pointed, his eyes cruel; and in his mouth he held a sharp kunai. Bizarrely, Anko had the sudden impulse to take the kunai from his mouth and slash her own throat with it.

She shook her head to clear the confusion. "Who…are you?" she asked uncertainly.

The figure grinned at her and beckoned with a sharp finger. Then he turned and ran, or rather, glided. She instantly began to follow him, although she did not know why. As he delved deeper into the forest, Anko heard the rushing of a nearby waterfall. Again, she resisted the urge to go and drown herself in it.

_Why not?_ Her mind begged her. _Death is sweet, isn't it? Death is freedom. Besides, you're going to die anyway. _

She ignored the voice. The figure stopped in a small clearing. Anko glanced around in confusion, expecting something more interesting. The figure raised his arms and a huge circle formed on the ground of the clearing, etched with complicated markings. A seal?

The figure lowered his hands and part of the circle opened up, forming stairs that led underground. All at once, Anko felt a wave of cold rush over her. The dark passageway had a foreboding feel to it. Anko was sure that whatever was down there was something ancient…something evil and malignant.

The figure pointed downwards as though asking her to walk down. She vigorously shook her head, unable to find her voice again. She would not go down there. She did not want to find out what that corrosive presence was.

The figure stopped pointing and stared at her, narrowing his eyes. Anko suddenly on a bizarre whim grabbed at her own throat and started to choke herself. The air rushed out of her lungs and she found herself unable to breathe. Strangely enough, though, she felt happy to die this way in front of this figure.

At that point, Anko woke up suddenly, her night shirt drenched in her sweat. She did not sleep again for the rest of the night, her mind vividly replaying the scenes of her terrible nightmare.

~/ *** \~

Many shinobi often had nightmares. It was hard not to; after all the horrors they had witnessed. Some even went mad from their nighttime terrors. But not Itachi Uchiha. He was too good, too good at blocking his emotions, too good at repressing unpleasant memories…too good at maintaining his emotionless façade.

Itachi Uchiha rarely had nightmares. That night had been one of those rare nights.

The day after his little exchange with Anko; Itachi, after a long time, had offered to train Sasuke. He had needed a break from his disturbing thoughts, his dreadful commands. He needed a few moments reprieve from the doubts burgeoning in his mind. He needed time to think things through.

His little brother had been elated, Itachi could tell. Once, this offer would have been met with an explosion of glee and ecstatic laughter. Now, it was met with bright hopeful eyes and a half-smile, rising above the carefully mastered poker-face. Itachi resented that. Danzo's regime had taken away Sasuke's childhood, just like the continuous wars had taken away Itachi's.

Gennin training was too gruelling now, just as it always was during wartime. Some children who came from civilian families did not survive the Academy years, let alone the Gennin trials. Sasuke and his team-led by Kakashi- had already been on more than a few C-rank and B-rank missions. Itachi knew that Sasuke was ambitiously hoping for an A-rank.

They had practiced genjutsu, Itachi showing him one that was a bit above his level. Sasuke caught it all easily though, promising to master the technique by the end of the day. Then they had moved to sparring. Sasuke's taijutsu forms were excellent and he was fast, requiring little correction from Itachi.

Although Sasuke was an excellent shinobi for a gennin, he had failed to activate his Sharingan yet, prompting some scorn from the clan elders. Yet others referred to him as the 'next Itachi'. Itachi resented them too. He knew that Sasuke resented them even more. He knew that Sasuke would rather be the first himself rather than the next anyone at all.

Itachi let the sparring go on for a while before deciding to take out Sasuke. Sasuke never really stood a chance. Then he customarily poked his brother on the forehead.

"Next time Sasuke, perhaps you will beat me," Itachi had said with a small smile and Sasuke had glared half-heartedly.

They had spent the following half-hour sipping tomato juice (Itachi hated it but he endured for Sasuke) and discussing the chances of Kakashi-sensei letting his team participate in the upcoming Chunin exams. Sasuke had claimed that his teammates were dragging him down. Itachi had reminded him that Kakashi valued teamwork above all else. Sasuke had grinned sheepishly, letting the poker-face fall for a moment.

As Itachi had gotten up to leave, Sasuke had asked, "Onii-san, didn't you have any missions today?"

_As a matter of fact, Sasuke, I'm on a mission right now. A mission to kill our mother and a fellow comrade in cold blood because their behaviour suggests that they are against the Hokage..._

"I took the day off," he had replied simply.

~/ *** \~

Afterwards, Itachi had lain in his bed, wide awake, thinking through Danzo's orders. It seemed confusing, somehow. Why didn't Danzo want to question Anko or his mother? Was he truly so arrogant as to believe that the two of them were the only ones opposing his reign? More importantly, what was he going to do about his orders? Follow them? Kill his mother?

The more he thought of it, the less it seemed like a logical mission. In fact, it seemed that it was less a mission of silencing those who opposed the Hokage and more a mission of…ensuring Itachi's loyalty to him. Anko Mitarashi was just an add-along, she was expendable; the real test was to kill Mikoto Uchiha. Itachi had frowned at that thought. He had given Danzo no reason to suspect him at all.

Or perhaps…that was just it. He had given Danzo no reason to suspect him. His ability to hide his emotions was a threat to Danzo. Because he was not from Root, Danzo did not have the insurance of his absolute loyalty. Thus, Danzo could never be sure of what Itachi was hiding. This was a test, orchestrated purely to test his devotion to the Hokage.

In a way this conclusion was a relief. It meant that they had not been discovered. Their secret was still safe. Likewise, this was also a new worry. It meat that Danzo was spinning a careful web around Itachi, trying to turn him into one of his own Root pawns…

~/ *** \~

That night, at around the same time, Itachi Uchiha had had the same dream as Anko Mitarashi. There were only two significant differences. Firstly, Itachi Uchiha had immediately recognized the area where the figure had appeared to him. Secondly, he would have willingly gone down the flight of stairs leading underground no matter how foreboding they seemed because, unlike Anko, he had recognized the cold feeling associated with the place immediately as well. However, he never had a chance to step below ground.

As a shinobi, Itachi was trained to be a light sleeper, to awaken at any small noise. He was not awakened by a small noise. He was awakened by a rude and persistent knocking at his door.

Itachi recognized Sasuke's chakra signature behind the door and warily opened it. He was greeted with the sight of a haggard-looking Sasuke panting and leaning against the door frame. Physically, he was fine. His chakra reserves seemed to have suffered a lot though. Itachi raised a questioning eyebrow.

"I-I've done it!" Sasuke panted heavily but his eyes shone out. "Done it! Mastered the technique!"

Itachi glanced at the clock behind his room and saw that it was nearly dawn. Had Sasuke been practicing all this time? He glanced at Sasuke's proud face.

"Show me," he said and followed Sasuke out to the back lawn.

Sasuke executed the technique beautifully-a genjutsu that specifically affected hearing to disorient an opponent- and Itachi praised him for it. He told Sasuke of the ways to improve the technique on his own and advised him to do it tomorrow.

Once again unlike Anko, Itachi had fallen asleep immediately after this intrusion because he had hoped to find the dream again. He had hoped to prove the theory burgeoning in his mind as correct. Much to his disappointment however, Itachi did not dream of the figure or the forest again.

~/ *** \~

The next day, Anko was at the market restocking her monthly supply of dango and sake when she glanced behind her and happened to notice a frighteningly familiar face a few paces out in the street. Her blood chilled to her bone and she blindly worried if she was about to die right now before coming to her senses. A crowded market was no place to commit an assassination. If Itachi Uchiha was going to murder it would be in the quiet of her own home.

What was he doing here? Stalking her? That seemed unlikely. Didn't he already know where she lived? Surely Danzo could have provided him with that bit of information. A firm, rational voice in the back of her head suggested that maybe; just maybe Itachi wasn't following her. After all, he probably had to do some shopping too, didn't he? But the paranoia refused to leave her.

At that point, Anko had such a foolish idea that she should have been named 'Stupidest Kunoichi of the Year'. She thought of following Itachi Uchiha. She was already dressed in civilian clothing. Surely if she masked her chakra well enough, he would not be able to recognize her or realize that someone was following him.

Anko was half-way out onto the street when two important thoughts struck her. Firstly, this was by far the most idiotic idea she had ever had. This was Itachi-freaking-Uchiha! He was the youngest person ever to have been chosen for ANBU. The guy Konoha shinobi told horror stories about. Enemy Nin had a flee-on-sight order for him-just like they had had for the Yondaime. Of course he would be able to sense her. Secondly, in the few moments it took her to make this hare-brained decision, she had lost sight of the Uchiha.

Anko cursed herself, her shoulders slumping in defeat when an idea flashed across her brain. A much better idea than her previous one. Anko carefully snuck into a deserted alley. After checking to make sure no one (ninja or otherwise) was near here before customarily biting into her thumb.

Flashing through the hand seals, she used her blood as an offering to perform an extremely low-grade summoning jutsu. To an outsider, at a first glance, the jutsu would seem to have yielded no results. Upon closer inspection, however, they would find a small sandy-coloured snake with a diamond-patterned forehead which was barely one-inch thick.

Anko smiled and kneeled in front of the snake which looked at her with haughty, questioning eyes. Tracer snakes, the bottom of the food chain in Manda's kingdom. They had low chakra capacities and their abilities were limited but they were useful in circumstances like these.

Anko had always felt that they were under appreciated. Tracer snakes could, as their name suggested, trace people. Because of their poor level of chakra and incredible speed and swiftness, they could rarely be discovered. They were also incredibly gifted at recognizing chakra signatures as well. Orochimaru, another jackass with a knowledge fetish, had taught her how to make good use of them. He was the one who had dubbed them as tracers in the first place.

"Hey there, Wormy," she greeted softly and the snake hissed indignantly. It was not his real name. His real name was a mesh of hisses and cries that Anko could not hope to pronounce. So she stuck with Wormy.

"I've got a job for you. This is important. I need you to follow someone closely and tell me where he's going. Don't let him see you or guess that you're there, okay?"

The snake raised his head arrogantly and let out a hiss. Like many of the lesser snakes, tracers lacked the ability to speak human tongues even though they could understand it well enough. Wormy was one of the few that could make out a small amount of sentences. Anko could guess what Wormy was saying now though _'When was the last time anyone discovered me in their midst?'_

Anko smiled fondly. "Atta boy, Wormy. Now listen carefully. The guy I want you to follow is called Itachi Uchiha…"

~/ *** \~

Anko did not bother to go back to her apartment after that. Instead she wandered into a nearby bar and took a seat. The civilians had recognized her as a kunoichi and had given her a wide berth, leaving her quite alone in a corner. Although she would have loved to drown herself in sake, she did not. In its place, she drank orange juice. As she waited, she began to impatiently tap her foot against the floor. She did not have to wait long though.

Anko felt a sharp pain in her toe and glanced down at her foot. She found her beloved tracer curled around her foot, glaring up. Anko bent down and placed her hand next to him. He crawled up and sat curled in her palm.

"Well?" Anko asked.

Wormy let out a cry and hissed. Anko strained her ears to catch the strangled words.

'_Sso sssslow…'_ he seemed to complain. _'Walking at…sssnail'ss pacccee…Too preoccupied with himself for good ssshhinobi…'_

"Yeah, okay," Anko said impatiently. "But where did he go? Where did you leave him?"

'_He wassss entering…that foressst…Konoha's training ground… The Foressst of Deathsss…'_

~/ *** \~

Anko wondered for the millionth time what she was doing here. She wondered if she had lost her mind. Her faithful snake had told her exactly which entrance to take and which pathway to follow and now she stood up on a tree branch, halfway into following Wormy's advice.

She could not feel Itachi's chakra signature anywhere but that was not surprising. An experienced shinobi like Itachi would have to be excellent at masking his chakra or perhaps he had already left. This made Anko question what she was doing here. Itachi was at perfect liberty to come and train in the Forest of Death if he wished to do so. There was no reason for her to follow him.

However, she felt compelled to follow him, to see what he was doing here…just like she had felt compelled to follow the white figure in her dreams. Anko shivered and shook her head to rid herself of that thought. She jumped carelessly to the next branch, then to the one after that. Then she came to a sudden halt.

Her eyes widened as she studied the landscape before her and her heart began to pound wildly in a panic. Quite impossibly, the area in front of her was from her dream. The same place where she had met the robed figure. She jumped down from the tree branch and surveyed the land. It was the exact same place, the same trees, the same scenery. Anko felt her palms sweating and she bit her lips nervously. She considered her options for a moment. Then she set off again. This time, she did not need Wormy's directions to guide her.

As she neared her destination, Anko heard the same sound of a distant waterfall. She felt angry at herself for not recognizing the place immediately. Granted though, she had never been to this part of the forest before. She had used the same entrance Itachi had used before but it had never led to this part of the forest before.

Anko bit her lips again, a nervous tick which shinobi should never have. She was wracked with fear and curiosity. If she was faced with the hole again, would she go in this time? Would the figure be waiting for her? Would he be waiting to kill her if she refused to go down?

Anko mentally shuddered at that thought but kept up her even pace. Her curiosity far outweighed her fear. Ever since she had woken up from her dream, she had felt ashamed of her cowardice there. This time she was determined to follow this trail through till the end.

Anko reached the end of the path and stood on a high tree branch, expecting to see the empty clearing below. She saw the clearing all right, but it was not empty. Anko felt her throat go dry as she stared at the horrible scene before her.

In front of her around a dozen ANBU were lying around in a bloody circle. All of them were dead, their blood splashed across the grass in a gruesome manner. Many of them had various weapons stuck inside their bodies. And all of them were brutally scarred.

Anko's first immediate thought was to run and leave this place far behind, to pretend that she had never come here. A shinobi-or a team of shinobi- that could murder a dozen highly-trained ANBU would easily make mince-meat out of her. But her mind stubbornly ignored her better instinct. Anko swallowed hard and hesitantly jumped down from her tree.

Standing on the ground, she was leaning forward and looking at the nearest fallen ANBU when she felt a hand firmly grip her shoulder. Letting out a strangled cry, Anko reflexively turned around and grabbed a kunai; her instincts as a kunoichi taking over.

Anko could hear her heart pounding as she stared at the man in front of her. In the rush of the moment, she took a few minutes to realize that her would-be assailant was none other than Itachi Uchiha himself who was staring back at her, his posture tense but his face impossibly blank.

When faced with the excitement of discovering the venue of her dream, she had completely forgotten about him. As she stared at him, Anko suddenly realized how bad it looked that she was standing on the crime scene of a dozen murdered ANBU.

"I d-didn't kill them. They were like this when I got here!" she told him in a hushed voice and winced at her own words. _'It was like this when I got here!'_ The oldest, lamest excuse in the book. But in her case, it was true.

To her surprise, Itachi Uchiha replied quietly and clearly, "I know it wasn't you, Anko-san."

Anko narrowed her eyes and glanced back at the bodies-another fatal mistake. _'Never turn your back to the enemy!'_ her mind screamed and she quickly turned to face Itachi again.

"Was it you?" she asked quietly. To her relief, her voice did not seem to betray any trace of her fear.

"No," he replied in the same cool manner."They killed themselves."

Anko looked back at the bodies, stunned to hear this. A dozen ANBU simply did not commit suicide in the middle of a forest. Behind her she heard Itachi give a steady gruesome commentary.

"Dog slit his own wrists, Wolf committed seppuku, and Bird plunged a kunai into her own throat…All the scars on their bodies were inflicted pre-mortem. They scarred themselves before committing suicide," he observed calmly.

"How can you tell all that?" she asked as she looked back at him before realizing what a stupid question that was. Itachi's Sharingan was clearly blazing in his eyes. She wondered how she missed that before.

Abruptly, Itachi moved forward and placed a hand on her shoulder once more. "Come Anko-san, before we are both blamed for something neither of us did."

Anko's feet refused to cooperate but Itachi dragged her along firmly until she at least started hopping from tree to tree behind him. Unexpectedly, she heard a loud groaning noise behind her. Despite herself, she turned to look back at the clearing. And for what felt like the thousandth time that day, she stared back in horror.

The ground of the clearing had opened up, forming a gigantic black hole…swallowing up the bodies of the dead ANBU. A quiet ringing started to sound in Anko's ears and she felt quite sure that she was going to drop dead any moment now.

Behind her, Itachi spoke again but she could not give a rat's fart about him anymore.

"The ground opened up…"she breathed numbly.

"I am aware of that, Anko-san." Was that exasperation she heard in his voice?

"The ground opened up…" she repeated. "Just like…in my dream."

"In your dream?" And this time, Anko was sure she heard more than a hint of alarm in his voice. "You dreamed of this, Anko-san?"

Anko nodded mutely, unable to speak. As she stared the hole remained unchanged but the familiar cold feeling was back; filling her and making her feel nauseous.

Dimly, she was aware of Itachi's hand on her arm, dragging her back, forcing her to take her eyes off of the spectacle behind her. She started running again, incredibly anxious to put it all behind her. She jumped from branch to branch frantically, stopping only when she was near the gate leading to the forest.

She kneeled in front of the gate more out of emotional exhaustion rather than a physical one. Itachi Uchiha stood behind her. As she stood up, Itachi managed to leave her another message before quickly leaving.

This time, it wasn't in the form of a seal. This time, it was in the form of five hurriedly whispered words in her ear.

"Go to Kakashi's house tonight."

~/ *** \~

Naruto watched anxiously as his nee-chan paced back and forth inside her cell. All day, she had acted strangely. She had refused to answer Naruto's questions or even talk to him. All she had done was pace around the whole place, filled with emotions Naruto did not understand.

"Nee-chan?" Naruto asked uneasily. He got no reply. "Something's changed…hasn't it?" he asked her quietly.

After a long time, Kyuubi quietly replied.

"Yes, it has."

~/ *** \~

**A/N:** Sorry for the terribly long wait. Hope you haven't given up on my story yet!

I did a little research on the nature of Japanese Shinigami and learned that they were death spirits who inspired suicide. If you meet a Shinigami, you're likely to kill yourself within the next few hours. Since Naruto-verse tells me very little of the Shinigami's nature, I decided to go with this.

Also, I realize that Anko may be OOC and I hope you'll forgive me for that. I'm pretty sure you've all guessed by now that Itachi and Anko are the main characters-besides Naruto that is. Read and review!


	4. Buried Secrets

Kakashi Hatake was quietly contemplating the future of his gennin team over a cup of strong coffee and a certain novel with questionable content. His team was Team 7, consisting of Shino Aburame, the heir to the Aburame clan; Sakura Haruno, a surprisingly able gennin from two average chunin parents whose chakra control was exceptional; and Sasuke Uchiha, Itachi's younger brother.

All of them were extremely capable gennin and fought mid to close-range just like Kakashi did. They were fairly compatible with each other although Kakashi suspected that he had been selected as Sasuke's sensei instead of a real Uchiha was partly due to the young Uchiha's still inactive Sharingan.

The Uchiha sure were pushy when it came to their dojutsu. Sasuke painfully reminded Kakashi of a similar young Uchiha from his youth who had troubles fitting in with his more uptight peers. Obito had also had difficulty unlocking his Sharingan. As Kakashi drew the parallels between Obito and his student, he tried not to think of what had happened when Obito had finally unlocked his Sharingan.

Among his three students Sasuke was the strongest and the most ambitious. His motivations were easy to understand. Half of the times, it was hard, even for him, to tell what Shino was thinking. He was extremely talented in his family's fighting techniques, got along well with his teammates and he was mindful and observant at all times. Sakura was the weakest of them and the easiest to read. She also had a more-than-blatantly-obvious crush on Sasuke which the Uchiha dutifully ignored.

That's not to say Sakura was not as motivated as her peers. She was determined not to let her average background (when compared to her teammates who came from respected clans) have any impact on her future as a ninja and had chosen Tsunade as her role model. Kakashi had wisely chosen not to inform Sakura of the details of the Sanin's personal life and her few unsavory habits. Instead, he had directed her to training at the Konoha hospital to hone herself as a healer.

Kakashi was going through their individual skills, wondering if they were truly ready for the upcoming Chunin Exams. The exams had gotten much more dangerous and demanding during the course of Danzo's reign. It was still a little early to decide considering that the exams were six months off and either way, he had not been planning to enlist his team for the exams this year but Sasuke was insisting. Even Shino had dropped subtle hints of wanting to participate. Honestly, what was their hurry? Only Sakura had seemed a little subdued on the topic.

Kakashi was turning another page of his novel when he realized that his coffee cup was empty. As he turned to pour himself another cup of coffee, he felt a certain presence behind him that made him stiffen a little before relaxing.

Turning his head sideways to look at the impassive figure behind him, Kakashi raised his only visible eyebrow questioningly.

"We need to talk," Itachi Uchiha said. By now, Kakashi knew the young Uchiha well enough to recognize the underlying hint of urgency in his otherwise monotonous voice.

Kakashi slowly stirred a single spoonful of sugar into his coffee before performing a few hand seals that would ensure complete secrecy within his apartment walls. Then, taking his cup into his hand, he turned to face Itachi.

"I'm all ears," he said.

~/ *** \~

Anko was standing in front of the building she knew to be Kakashi's home. Most of the apartments were rented out to civilians. Kakashi alone occupied the top floor. This was a fairly unusual occurrence nowadays. Over the years of Danzo's regime, the civilians and shinobi slowly began to move away from each other. Before, it was common for shinobi and civilians to share buildings and even living spaces on occasion. Now things were unofficially designated into either 'civilian areas' or 'shinobi areas'. Hell, even the bath houses were different. Kakashi was one off the few shinobi that lived in a 'civilian area.'

To Anko, this showed a loss of unity within the village. But Danzo didn't seem to care. In fact, that ass probably preferred things this way.

Anko went into the building and stopped in front of the stairs, wondering if she should climb it or not. The last message Itachi Uchiha had given her had not had a very pleasant outcome and she wondered if she should have taken her usual approach and simply introduced herself in through the window. Then she shook her head, berated herself for having such ridiculous doubts about visiting _Kakashi_ for crying out loud and climbed the stairs in a matter of seconds.

Then she paused in front of Kakashi's door and frowned. She could not feel anything beyond the door; chakra signals or noises of any kind could not be felt or heard. Had Kakashi sealed off his apartment? That probably meant that Itachi was already there and they had already started discussing the weird happenings of the day.

Anko steeled herself and knocked (or rather, banged) loudly on the door. After a brief pause, the door was opened by Kakashi, looking more disheveled than usual. His eye crinkled up in a tired smile as he regarded her.

"Anko," he greeted her affably.

"Kakashi," she replied shortly.

"We've been waiting for you," Kakashi said as he moved out of the way to let her through the door. "Although I am surprised that you didn't commence with your usual entrance of breaking through the window-not that I'm complaining," he added hastily.

Anko rolled her eyes at him and pushed through the door, stopping after a few paces. Inside, sitting primly at the kitchen table with his ankles crossed, was Itachi-freaking-Uchiha. Surprise, surprise…not.

Itachi observed her coolly from where he was sitting, the Sharingan blazing in his eyes. Anko suppressed a shiver and glared back, defiantly crossing her arms. Finally, Itachi spoke.

"You're late," he said. And that made Anko's blood boil and her neurons overload.

"Oh, excuse me!" she started, sarcasm dripping from her voice like snake-venom. "It's not like you actually bothered mentioning a time instead of being fucking cryptic-"

Anko felt Kakashi's hand on her shoulder and she glowered at him darkly.

"Some other time, Anko," he said. "Right now, why don't you sit down and tell me about this dream of yours?"

Her head snapped back to Itachi who gave her a look that plainly said: _'Yes, I told him. What are you going to do about it?'_

To be honest, there wasn't anything she _could_ do about it and if she had to recount the nightmare to anyone, it might as well be Kakashi. So she sat down at the table beside Itachi and, ignoring the mug of coffee Kakashi set in front of her, started narrating the bizarre sequence of events that had occurred.

As she spoke Anko kept her gaze on Kakashi who stared back with an equally intense look; concentrating on every word she spoke. Occasionally, his eye would flick back to Itachi for a few moments. Itachi, by contrast, wasn't looking at her or Kakashi at all. Instead he sat with his eyes closed and brows furrowed, resting his chin on top of his folded hands. To Anko, it seemed as though he was a million miles away.

When she spoke (with a little understandable embarrassment) of Wormy, she saw Itachi's lip twitch a little.

"Impressive,' he said quietly. And Anko didn't bother to keep her idiotic grin in check.

When she finally finished, no one spoke. Kakashi and Itachi seemed to be lost in their own little worlds and Anko had no idea of what they were thinking. It was unfair that they appeared to have so many thoughts on the matter. Anko herself was clueless so as to what was going on or what anything meant. And she was thoroughly pissed by it. So she finally spoke.

"So…um…" Both males turned their heads to look at her. "Any idea on what it all means?" she asked.

"A fair few, actually," Kakashi mused quietly.

"Care to share?" Anko ventured uncertainly. A part of her told her firmly that she _really_ didn't want to know what it all meant, that it would bring nothing but trouble but another part (a much bigger part) of her wanted this. She _needed _trouble, she desperately craved it. She was so tired of everything. Tired of Danzo, tired of the new Konohagakure, tired of being part of a secret resistance that never seemed to do any resisting…

So she willed the dream, the hole on the ground and the deaths of the ANBU to be something extremely important; something wonderful and powerful and fantastic…Something that would make her sorry life as a stupid kunoichi exciting again.

Anko had no idea but her wish would be fulfilled soon enough.

~/ *** \~

Itachi kept his steady gaze trained on Anko, surveying her. She preferred looking and directing her questions at Kakashi who made her feel more comfortable. Narrating her dreams had caused her great discomfort and now, Itachi and Kakashi's subdued silence was creating even more distress in her already restless mind.

Kakashi had heard it before, of course, from none other than Itachi himself. They had discussed it at length before Anko's arrival and had reached a few doubtful and unsettling conclusions.

But their conclusions and theories still couldn't explain some things. Why in the world would Anko have the same dream on the same night as him? And who was the figure in the dreams who had guided them to the seal? There was no possible connection between them, no connecting link. Itachi had thought about it all day and could find no clue. Aside from their shared affiliation and his recent order to murder her, that is. Neither of them had any idea of who the figure was. It made no sense at all. Yet here they were.

"Care to share?" Anko asked Kakashi. But it was Itachi who answered her.

"Anko-san," he called softly and Anko's attention immediately shot back to him, her eyes narrowed. She had a special sort of dislike for him. Not surprising since he was the one who had handed her the news of her imminent death. At his hands no less.

"Do you remember what the chakra at the seal felt like?" Itachi asked pressingly and Anko nodded hesitantly. "Could you describe it, please?"

"It felt…terrible," Anko said and she trembled a little at the memory. "Like…really noxious and disgusting. It was suffocating…"

Itachi nodded. "Do you remember ever feeling it before?"

"I-I don't think so," Anko said indecisively but Itachi cut her off.

"You're wrong," Itachi told her and watched her raise her eyebrows at him, clearly affronted at him for telling her about what _she_ does or does not remember. Before she could angrily retort, however, Itachi carried on.

"We've all felt it before. Anyone who was in Konoha during the Kyuubi attack has felt it before," Itachi informed her and Anko's eyes widened to impossible measures, unwilling to believe the implications of his words.

"You've got to be shitting me! Tell me you're freaking kidding!" Anko nearly yelled.

"I'm afraid not, Anko-san," Itachi replied in a flat tone. "I never forget. I may not have had the Sharingan at the time but I remember the chakra swirling around that seal well. And now that my Sharingan has matured, I was able to instantly identify the chakra as distinctly non-human. I'm choosing to assume that it is Bijuu chakra. No other creature could have chakra so malevolent."

"But-but…" Anko spluttered. "The Kyuubi was sealed into the Fourth's son! And his son died as an infant so-"

"And what proof do we have of that?" Kakashi entered the conversation at last. Itachi and Anko turned towards him, Anko still looking shell-shocked.

"What proof do we have?" Kakashi repeated. "None what-so-ever except for Danzo's word. And we all know how reliable that is. The ANBU dealt with sensei's son when the chakra started leaking from his seal yet I, then a high-ranking ANBU official and the Fourth's former student, wasn't invited to play. How do we know that those ANBU weren't all Root?"

Anko seemed to be stunned into silence for the moment so Itachi decided to speak again.

"My Sharingan is far better than most of my clansmen," he started to explain. "And over the years as I went on more missions outside the village, I noticed something off about Konoha."

"Off…As in…?" Anko asked in a quavering voice.

"Off as in the atmosphere of the village," Itachi clarified. "The environment inside the village always felt more suffocating and dense than the environment outside. It always felt like a weight being lifted whenever I left the village. I usually attributed this to a psychological response Danzo's rule rather than a physical one to Konoha…until recently.

"More than that, inside the village, my eyes detected a certain tinge of red chakra within the village areas. More in some places than others. The Hokage Tower and the Forest of Death always seemed to have them."

Itachi saw Anko swallow hard, trying to grasp the information. "Did…did you ever bother mentioning…this red chakra thing to anyone before?" she asked skeptically.

Itachi shook his head. "I never had any reason to. As far as I knew, I was the only who saw it. I once asked our family doctor about it but she was quick to pass it off as a side-effect from over-use. I chose to accept this as I had had no other explanation at the time. Now I do."

The doctor's reactions were also quite suspicious now that he though about it. Could the clan elders actually be in Danzo's inner circle? Enough to possibly know about this? Itachi carefully filed that thought away. He'd mull over it later.

"Okay, fine but what abo-" Anko started but Kakashi managed to cut her off.

"Before start to find more counter arguments," Kakashi said in a voice that clearly showed that he was tired of Anko's denials. Itachi wasn't though. If Anko could find a valid point to counter their theory, it was worth hearing. After all, that's what all this was: simply vague theories and conspiracies. "Can I just point out something else?" Kakashi continued.

Anko sighed tiredly and nodded.

"Bijuu can't be killed. If their host dies while they are still sealed inside, their chakra simply disperses before they reform over the years. It's been thirteen years. Shouldn't the Kyuubi have reformed by now?"

"If it reformed in another country?" Anko pressed.

"I doubt something like the reappearance of the Kyuubi could be kept so secretive that Konoha wouldn't have heard of it," Kakashi replied. "Besides, I think as Itachi's points label out, if not the whole beast then at least a part of its chakra is being sealed underneath Konoha."

"So…the Kyuubi's chakra…it's been surrounding us this whole time?" Anko asked, a disgusted tone creeping into her voice. Itachi could understand her revulsion.

"Quite effectively turning us all into pseudo-jinchuriki," he muttered softly. Anko looked startled.

"Is that even possible?" Anko asked, tentatively. "Doesn't the chakra have to be sealed into us or something to make us into…those?" She didn't utter the word.

Kakashi shrugged. "Who knows what long term exposure of that chakra could do to people?"

"It would certainly explain Konoha's seemingly impenetrable defense," Itachi offered, a small wry smile playing on his lips. "An army of shinobi and extreme defenses-all powered by the Kyuubi's chakra…who could even hope to match that?"

"All this time, all that chakra and _none_ of us noticed?" Anko insisted.

"I noticed," Itachi pointed out and Anko shot him a dirty glare even though what he'd said was true. He _had_ noticed.

"If the change was gradual enough…perhaps not," Kakashi told her. "Perhaps the charka never left since the Kyuubi's attack on Konoha and we all simply became immune to its constant presence. So much so that we couldn't even identify it anymore."

"It all still seems pretty far-fetched to me," Anko argued, crossing her arms defiantly. "I'm going to need some serious solid proof before-"

Thanks to his still-active Sharingan, Itachi was able to grasp the movement a split-second before it happened. Itachi's body moved before his mind and he swiftly grabbed Anko before she could fall to the ground.

Laying her down softly on the floor, Itachi pressed his fingers to her throat to find that her heart was still beating. In fact it was beating extremely erratically. Behind her closed eyelids, he could see her eyes moving just as randomly as her heart.

Anko wasn't usually subject to spontaneous fainting…was she?

Nonplussed, Itachi looked up at Kakashi who stared back at him with an equally shocked expression.

~/ *** \~

Naruto wasn't sure where he was but he knew that this place wasn't home. And that terrified him. He glanced around frantically from left to right, squinting in the…brightness. At home everything was dim. The only true source of radiance was his nee-chan.

Where _was _nee-chan? Naruto turned around and opened his eyes a bit more, searching for her. She wasn't there though and Naruto's heart sped up even faster. He started running from one corner, calling out to her, trying to find her in vain. He needed to find her. He needed her to tell him what this place was, why he wasn't home but she didn't answer.

Naruto hysterically turned around once more and found something sticking out against the brightness. A hole in the wall, dark and black like his home was. Naruto didn't even stop to consider for a moment if the hole was good or bad. All he knew was that the hole resembled his home and he needed to go back there.

He couldn't stand it here. The brightness was too much for him to handle. He needed to get away. He needed to find nee-chan. He was so lost without her to guide him. So he ran through hole desperately, hoping that he would find himself home.

The hole, as it transpired, did not lead to home but it was more familiar than the brightness. The area was narrower than his home and there was no water but it was lit in the same dim way. Naruto instantly felt better and he sat down on the cool floor, deciding that he hated the bright. It felt terrible. The dark, black coolness was much better.

Naruto stood in the narrow passageway, unsure of which way to go or even if he should move at all or be content to sit here and wait. _No, _a voice in his mind told him. He had to find nee-chan. He had to go home. Nee-chan couldn't come to him thanks to that big gate so he needed to go to her.

Just as he had made up his mind and started to get up, he heard a rustling noise above him. Naruto jumped to his feet to find a…person? A person was in front of him but it wasn't his nee-chan.

The person didn't look anything like him or nee-chan…but at the same time it did. It had two arms like them and two legs too. But it wasn't red like his nee-chan. Instead it was…What was that? Was it…a 'colour'?

"White," the person spoke suddenly, making Naruto jump. Its voice was very different from nee-chan's or Naruto's own. It was deeper somehow…Could voices be deep? It sounded strong too…if voices could sound strong. Naruto had never heard anyone else before and this new experience both frightened and excited him.

"What does 'white' mean?" he asked the person. After all, the person didn't seem too bad.

"White's a colour. Just like your 'nee-chan'," at this the person smiled in a strange manner that made Naruto cringe, "is red, I'm white. Understand?"

Naruto nodded. And the person smiled, this time in a different way. _Was it possible to smile in different ways?_ Naruto wondered. But this second smile didn't make him feel uncomfortable like the first one had so Naruto concluded that there _must_ be different types of smiles.

As he thought, the person's smile started to grow bigger. "Listen quietly, child. I am the Shinigami," the person told him. "And I am male so you should probably think of as me 'he' and not 'it'. I do not tolerate disrespect, do you understand?"

Naruto nodded quietly even though he hadn't really understood. Somehow, he just didn't feel like asking this person questions. He'd save the questions for later, when he was back with nee-chan.

The Shinigami sighed and made a strange motion with his eyes. "Follow me," he said before turning and moving swiftly farther down the corridor.

Naruto struggled to follow him. He moved so fast! "Where are we going?" he asked the Shinigami but he received no answer. Naruto hoped that the Shinigami was taking him home. He felt so lonely here.

Eventually the Shinigami stopped in front of a place where the corridor sharply climbed up. The stone was no longer smooth and seemed to be shaped differently. Naruto looked at it in confusion, unsure of what to do.

"These are stairs," the Shinigami explained. "You use them to go from lower place to a higher place or vice-versa (Naruto didn't bother mentioning that he didn't know what hat meant). I want you climb them."

"Climb them? You mean go up there?" Naruto asked pointing to the top of the stairs where there was another hole. It was brighter than the corridor but not as bright as the room from before, leaving Naruto unsure of what to feel. "Why?" he asked the Shinigami.

"Because," the Shinigami slowly said. "I want you to see the world. I want to show you what's out there."

Naruto's eyes widened. He stared at the hole on the ceiling, fascinated.

"That's 'out there'? That's 'the world'?" he eagerly asked the Shinigami, pointing up.

"A part of it, yes," the Shinigami nodded. "Don't you wish to see it for yourself?"

Naruto hesitated for a moment, unsure of what to do. He hadn't liked the bright room, what if 'the world' was worse? But he wanted to see it for himself. He wanted to see what it was all about; he wanted to know why nee-chan loved it so much even more than their home.

So Naruto hesitantly took the first few steps and the Shinigami followed. He climbed some more before looking back down, seeing the Shinigami close behind him. This time he smiled an even stranger smile; one that seemed to encourage Naruto to go on, promising that nothing terrible would happen.

Emboldened by this, Naruto ran up the last few steps, finally breaking free of the confines of the stairs and the passageway and stepping into the world.

Out in the world at last, Naruto was at a complete of what to feel, what to think, what to do. There were so many…_things_ in the world. He had no idea what any of them were called. He twirled around, surveying his surroundings.

All around him, there were tall structures, almost as big as the gate at home. They weren't straight like the gate, though. They bent and twisted in strange ways that left Naruto fascinated. What were these things? Why were they here? Why did they do?

'_Trees…'_ The Shinigami's voice whispered at him from inside his mind. Naruto realized with a jolt that the Shinigami was no longer with him and the hole to the corridor had disappeared. But Naruto let it go in his excitement at finding trees! There were things called trees and they were so tall and huge and what did they do?! Besides the Shinigami wasn't gone, was he? Naruto could feel him in the back of his mind just like he could feel his nee-chan. There was nothing wrong, right?

A soft chuckle met his ears and Naruto smiled brightly, knowing that the Shinigami was still with him. Naruto gazed back up at the trees.

"Trees," he whispered, testing out how the word sounded on his lips. "Trees!" he said again, louder this time. He laughed suddenly, jubilant at his new discovery. "Trees!" he yelled, laughing all the while.

He glanced down at his feet, intent on discovering more. He found that the floor of 'the world' was not filled with water like at home. Instead it was soft and another colour…a different colour….

'_Green…'_ the Shinigami told him.

"Green," Naruto repeated breathlessly, captivated. "What's the green thing called?"

'_Grass… Grass is green. Tree leaves are green. Lots of things are green. Just look around.'_

Naruto glanced back up at the trees and realized that, yeah, the top part of the trees _were_ green. The top part must be 'leaves', then.

Naruto lifted his gaze even more upwards and found that beyond and above the trees loomed a great black expanse (_'Sky…')_. Spread across the great black was small lights. They were so, so small but they were so, so bright. Naruto smiled. He _liked_ this bright. It didn't hurt. It was…it was…

"Oh my God!" someone behind him said loudly, breathlessly. Naruto spun around and saw another person there. Not the Shinigami, not nee-chan…A completely different person. He sure was meeting a lot of new persons today!

This person wasn't anyone one colour. It was different colours on different parts of its body. It didn't look like the Shinigami. It looked more like nee-chan, graceful and more curved. Its voice sounded close to nee-chan's too. Not the same voice…but similar.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god…" the person kept on repeating and Naruto took a step back, unnerved. Frantically, he searched for the Shinigami in his mind, asking him what to do.

'_What do you want to do?'_

Naruto's mouth dropped open at that. Whatdid _he_ want to do? What _did _he want to do? _What to do?!_ He'd never ever been faced with such a question before. What was he going to do?

The person finally stopped chanting and stared at Naruto. Naruto swallowed hard in nervousness. Suddenly, for some reason, his palms started to feel wet even though he hadn't touched any water. He looked at the person's eyes. Its eyes seemed to be filled with emotions…emotions Naruto didn't understand.

"Who…who are you?" the person asked him in a quivering voice. Naruto blinked, taken aback by the sudden question.

"I'm…Naruto," he replied hesitantly. "Who are you?"

The person didn't answer him but its eyes seemed to become impossibly wide. "You're Naruto…" it repeated in a strange strangled voice. "You're Naruto…You're fucking Naruto!"

"Yes, I'm Naruto!" he replied, a strange new feeling creeping up on him. He felt bothered by this person and its strange words. "So what?" he asked.

"So what?" the person repeated loudly. "So what?! You really…just…you're completely clueless about…everything, aren't you?" The person had such an expressive voice! It ranged from soft to loud in moments.

Naruto opened his mouth to ask who the person was again but the Shinigami cut him off.

'_It seems our time is up, Naruto…Maybe we will continue this later…Someday…"_

And the last thing Naruto heard before unconsciousness claimed him was the person's strangled cry of "Wait!"

~/ *** \~

Anko had been asleep for only fifteen minutes before she woke up again; gasping for life as though she had nearly drowned. Kakashi and Itachi had opted to reposition her on the couch after checking on her vitals and ascertaining that she was not under a genjutsu of any sort. If she _was_ under a genjutsu, it was one more powerful than the Itachi and Kakashi combined could detect. Quite a terrifying thought.

He and Itachi had moved back to the kitchen table, talking about Anko's sudden collapse. Itachi had pointed out that this wasn't natural and Kakashi was inclined to agree. They were discussing the possibility of the recent dreams affecting Anko and were back to the tiring question of the figure's identity when a loud cry from the couch alerted them of Anko's current state of consciousness.

Immediately they both abandoned the discussion in favor of checking over Anko.

Anko was sitting on the couch with her legs drawn up to her chest, panting heavily. Kakashi glanced at Itachi before kneeling before Anko.

"Anko?" he asked softly. "Are you alright?"

Anko's eyes flew open, eyes rapidly moving from Itachi to Kakashi before she finally choked out, "He's alive! Kakashi, he's alive!"

"Who's alive?" Kakashi asked, completely perplexed.

"Naruto!" Anko nearly yelled. "Naruto's alive and he's a fucking lunatic! Going on and on about 'trees' and 'grass' and 'green' but he's alive, Kakashi! He's alive!" Anko spoke frantically, desperate to make them understand.

Kakashi shared a look with Itachi who, for once, looked completely at a loss so as to what to do. Kakashi frowned slightly, wondering what had happened to make Anko lose bearing of her mental faculties so thoroughly.

"I'm not crazy," Anko said softly and Kakashi realized that she must have noticed their expressions of doubt and confusion. "I'm not crazy…I'm just a little…panicked…" Anko murmured softly, seeming to calm down. "But I did see him!" Anko continued earnestly. "And he's alive, Kakashi. Naruto Namikaze is alive. I know what's underneath the seal now. Naruto's underneath the seal."

Kakashi sighed loudly and rubbed his eye. "This is going to be really long night," he grumbled before taking a seat on the edge of the couch.

Itachi leaned over the top and looked at Anko. "I suggest, Anko-san," he said softly, "that you begin your narration once more. You seem to have much to share."

~/ *** \~

**A/N**: What do you think of Naruto's characterization? His was especially hard for me to get right so any comments and critiques are extremely welcome! Like it? Hate it? Leave a review!


	5. A Deal with the Devil

Ko Hyuga was an insomniac. Sleep had eluded him ever since he had made his first kill at ten years old in a B-ranked mission a month before his chunin exams. He had all but forgotten that day including his unfortunate victim. He did remember that that night had been a horrible sleepless night. He had eventually left his communal tent to go to his sensei's one. His sensei had consoled him and they had stayed up playing cards and sleep had claimed him just before dawn. In the morning his teammates had teased him about it, about running home to mommy at the first sign of trouble, about being such a coward during wartime. As punishment, sensei had sent them to find and kill another human being-be it shinobi or civilian. Kill or give up the shinobi life. They had come back with bloody hands and shattered faces. Sensei never consoled them.

Since that day, Ko had never slept for a full night. Sometimes he took drugs but any drug that dulled senses instead of sharpening them was dangerous for shinobi to use. So on most nights, Ko found things to occupy him. He took up guard duty on the Hyuga compound, he found friends to play cards with and he visited night clubs and bars for a few drinks.

He was at his favorite bar when he received Itachi Uchiha's strange message. It was passed onto him by the bartender, a withered old veteran who was part of their cause. He had spent a good few minutes in the bar even after receiving the message and, despite the urgency of Itachi's note, he loitered on the way to the Forest of Death. All in an effort to make sure he had acted as was usual. All to avoid suspicion.

Sometimes, Ko went to the Forest of Death to train in the dead of the night. But that was because of his insomnia. He, for the life of him, could not fathom why Itachi Uchiha would want to meet him there now.

~/ *** \~

"I can't believe we're doing this," Anko grumbled as they sailed through the trees. "We're all insane."

Ko Hyuga was running up ahead with Itachi, both of them using their respective dojutsu to scout the area. Ko had been mystified with their strange actions (they had not yet told him the whole story-just that they needed to check on something in the Forest) but he followed them without question. If nothing else, Ko was loyal to their cause. Many of the Hyuga clan branch members were. For them, a revolution against Danzo also meant a chance to usurp their elitist oppressors.

"We have to do this," Kakashi reminded her. "Once you have a theory, aren't you supposed to test it to see if it's true?"

"Not if testing it involves jumping down a rabbit hole spewing nauseating chakra that could potentially kill us," Anko replied bitingly.

Kakashi said nothing.

"Besides, I told you I'm sure. We _know_ what's down there. I saw him with my own eyes. Is it absolutely necessary to go down there and check? Forgive me if I think that that's suicide." Anko hoped that she had kept the dread out of her voice.

_Shinobi must never show fear._ Anko knew that. They must not show fear but that did not mean that they did not feel fear. They felt more fear in a single month of their lives than any civilian did in their whole lifetimes. But they did not show it, _could not_ show it. Not to their enemies, not to their allies, not even to their friends or families. This was engraved into their brains and Anko always tried her damned hardest to follow this rule. She did not always succeed.

"You saw it in a dream," Kakashi corrected, "not with your own eyes. Dreams are not exactly the most reliable medium. Do you understand what it would mean for us if sensei's son is still alive? Hope. Better yet, it would provide an extreme ally in our fight against Danzo. But before that, we would need to rescue him and even before that, we need to make sure that he is actually down there."

Like Itachi, Kakashi was also a master of his emotions. Since his father's death, he'd learned to keep his feelings locked up and to work like a machine at the task he was given. That attitude had not changed since the mission on the bridge, only his philosophy of putting the mission first had changed. Honestly, between the two of them, Anko did not know who the better at self-control was but at least she knew a little something of Kakashi's mysteries. Itachi was still an enigma and she suspected that he always will be.

Kakashi did not let it show but Anko knew that he was desperately wishing that her dreams were true, even more than herself. If there was one serious affliction Kakashi suffered from, it was survivor's guilt. He had felt it when his teammates had died, when his sensei had to sacrifice himself and when his sensei's infant son had (supposedly) expired. He outlived everyone he cared about in his life. It was not his fault but that did not stop him from believing that he had deserved to die instead of them. He wanted Naruto to be alive so that at least one memory of loved ones could outlast him. It was a stupid sentiment really.

Anko did not believe in survivor's guilt. It was a useless feeling. People die. So you outlive your allies. It happens all the time. Nothing to get so worked up about. She thought Kakashi was ridiculous for feeling the way that he did but she also knew that no one could control their feelings. They could _mask_ their emotions but stop feeling? That was impossible. Well, at least she thought it was. You could never tell when a freak with crazy abilities would pop up in this world of theirs.

Anko could feel her heart pounding loudly. Her palms were sweating so she clenched her fists tightly. She did not want to go near the hole. Granted, it had been more terrifying before when she had not known exactly what was down there…but knowing that the most powerful of tailed beasts resided within did not bring much comfort. Despite her extreme discomfort, she knew that Kakashi was right of course. They could not simply take her word for it. They needed to be sure. Then they needed to make a game plan.

Anko took a deep breath to steel herself. They were running through the Forest of Death, trying to find the seal again. It seemed like a strange arrangement, to put an opening of the seal in an area that any Chunin-ranked ninja could access but maybe that was the point. Shinobi trained here; they expended chakra. Perhaps this was Danzo's way of making the demon chakra affect his exhausted troops.

Up ahead, she saw Itachi and Ko pause suddenly on a branch. She and Kakashi immediately followed suit, stopping a few ways behind.

"Trouble?" Kakashi asked softly.

"…Of a sort," Itachi replied.

"What kind of a mess did you guys get yourselves into?" exclaimed the Hyuga.

Anko frowned. The Hyuga should be considerate enough to realize that not everyone on the planet had crazy powerful eyes. Anko did not know what Ko saw but all she could see was more trees. She both and Kakashi leaped onto the large branch the others inhabited.

"Care to elaborate?" Anko asked testily.

"They're all dead!" Ko answered, clearly mystified. "All of them! All ANBUs! Fifteen of Danzo's finest men and women torn to pieces like ragdolls."

Anko cursed. Kakashi narrowed his eyes and Itachi let out a heavy sigh. Ko's eyes shifted from on face to another.

"Guys?" he asked in a subdued voice. "What's going on?"

Itachi swiftly stood up straighter, as if suddenly roused out of a deep reverie. "We should take a closer look," he said.

"Should we?" Ko asked a little defiantly. "I want to know what's going on first."

"We'll explain everything, Ko-kun," Kakashi said. "But a little later. Please, we need to figure out something first."

"And we're running out of time," Anko added.

Ko sighed and stood up, nodding in resignation. And the three of them were off once more.

~/ *** \~

The seal was back and surrounding them once again were the bodies of the dead ANBU who were there to guard it. Blood was spilled everywhere forming a grotesque picture.

"Suicides," Itachi spoke softly. "All of them. Just like before."

"Who the hell is doing this?" Anko growled out.

"Whoever it is, I am inclined to believe that this is the same person responsible for your strange dreams," Kakashi replied.

"Whoever it is, I hope they do not believe that they are doing us a favor by killing so many of Konoha's elite forces," Itachi added.

"Are you kidding me?" Ko asked incredulously. "I don't have a fucking clue about what's going on but if this is the place you guys were heading to, then how were we going to fight our way out of that?" he said pointing to the dead bodies.

Itachi shook his head. "This is simply a temporary favor, Hyuga-san. There were killings before as well. Danzo will become suspicious. He will increase security to this area. He will know that others are now privy to his secret."

"What secret?" Ko cried out in frustration. "What is this place?"

"Excellent question, Ko-kun," Kakashi replied. "One we're hoping to answer. Would you mind looking at that and telling us what you see?" he asked, pointing to the seal. Ko gave everyone a frustrated look before focusing his attention on the seal.

Ko was almost as tiring as Anko, Itachi noted. Not that he could be blamed since they were keeping him in the dark about a lot of things; but it _had_ been firmly established long ago that Ko would not be getting any straight answers right now. Couldn't he wait? Once again, he had to marvel at Kakashi's patience with his inferiors. Not feigned, such as his, but genuine patience. Itachi rarely got angry at his peers or irritated at them either. But being exceptionally gifted had its side-effects. At a very young age, Itachi had grown accustomed to solitude. He preferred to observe rather than be a part of social gatherings and as a result, his people skills were a little lacking. Oh, he could feign any emotion the human mind could feel and he could infiltrate any base using his acting skills yet when it came to honestly trying to connect with people, he failed miserably. He always felt like an outsider looking in-what he saw was beautiful and horrible and generally awesome-but never truly a part of him.

Only a few people had ever been an exception to this rule. Sasuke, Shisui and his mother. To his father, he had always been a trophy to be shined and polished and shown off to the world. To others in the clan he was the goal their children aspired to-to be as great Itachi Uchiha. Only to those three was he a real person.

Using his Sharingan, Itachi surveyed the surface of the seal. What he saw was dark red, malevolent chakra flooding all across. Itachi felt a rare nervousness fill him.

"Holy shit," Ko breathed out.

"What?" Anko demanded urgently. "What do you see?"

"It's like a chakra network!" Ko rushed out. "Like a human chakra network! I can see the chakra pathways stretching out just below the surface of the ground. They're flowing in spirals from the seal! They're spread out everywhere! And the chakra…" he hesitated tensely. "The chakra's all red. Like you know…"

Itachi knew. Everyone in this clearing knew.

"Like the Kyuubi's chakra…" Ko finished. "…This…this is a seal…isn't it…guys?"

"Yep," Anko smiled grimly. "And I'll give you three guesses on exactly what's down there."

Ko sucked in a sharp breath. There was a pregnant pause before Anko spoke.

"So what now?" she asked.

"No clue," Kakashi admitted. Itachi simply shrugged.

"You guys didn't think this through at all, did you?" Ko asked, chewing on his lower lip. Ko was right of course. They had not. But honestly, the zest of the discovery had been too much for any of them, even Itachi, to ignore. They just had to see for themselves, to confirm, to find out if this Danzo could really have maintained such a deplorable plot in his maniacal effort to put Konoha on top. The answer was right before them. And it seemed like a resounding 'yes'.

And suddenly, an unbidden thought came to Itachi. Naruto would have been the same age as Sasuke. He could have attended the Academy with him. They could have been friends, inseparable just as his mother and Kushina-san had been. If only Danzo had not intervened. In his mind, Itachi felt the disgust for Danzo increase even more.

Kakashi chuckled humorlessly. "Honestly, I'm surprised we made it this far."

"Oh, you _wouldn't_ have made it this far," a new voice announced. A cold, sharp and cruel voice. "Not if I hadn't helped first."

Instinctively, all three ninja present took on battles stances, their hands reaching for their weapons and readying themselves to form hand signs. It was all futile of course because the figure that was in front of them not even the Rikudo Sennin could have hoped to defeat.

Itachi's heart started hammering in his chest as he gazed at the figure from his dreams. In the flesh.

~/ *** \~

The Shinigami grinned in amusement at the ragtag little team in front of him. Anko, Kakashi and Itachi were all ashen-faced but they retained a level of composure in his presence that he had to grudgingly admire. But they were scared, he could feel it. The fear was floating off in waves and the Shinigami relished in it. Ko Hyuga, by virtue of not knowing what was going on, was a little less alarmed and prepared to fight. But the Shinigami was not interested in him. In fact, right now, there was only one person he was interested in.

His beady black eyes locked their gaze with Kakashi's single visible one.

"'A temporary favor', Itachi-kun?" the Shinigami clicked his tongue in mock hurt. "After everything I've done for you? You wound me."

"Who are you?" Itachi asked in a flat voice though it sounded more forced than usual, the Shinigami noted with pleasure. No beating around the bush with this one, was there?

"You mean you don't know?" he asked gleefully, raising his arms and causing the shinobi in front of him to tense.

"Just answer the damn question!" Anko growled out, her voice clearly quavering. Her experience with him had been worse than Itachi's, he remembered. She had refused to follow him, and in his anger, he had forgotten to check his aura. The girl had nearly killed herself in his presence. Perhaps it was best to remind her of that.

"No need to get so touchy," the Shinigami grumbled. "You're really in no position to make demands of me, you know. You of all people should know what happens to those who don't show me the respect I deserve." He motioned to the dead bodies of the ANBU. With some satisfaction, he saw the kunoichi flinch and the Hyuga was starting to look terrified. Good.

"Now I believe I should answer your question, Itachi-kun," the Shinigami said, eyes never leaving Kakashi. "I am the Shinigami," he said simply. "The soul reaper, the god of death. And, before you ask, I'll also tell you why I've come. I've come with a proposal."

He could hear the collective breath that was drawn at his declaration. He grinned to his fullest, showing off his sharp teeth. Anko and that poor Hyuga looked ready to faint. Itachi Uchiha had his fists clenched at his side. But Kakashi…

The Shinigami had expected Kakashi to be angry. He had collected the souls of so many of his loved ones. In fact, the soul (most of it, anyway) of beloved sensei was trapped within him right now; blissfully unaware of what was happening to his son. He had expected anger boiling away inside of Kakashi even if he wouldn't show it to such a powerful being.

But he sensed no anger in Kakashi Hatake. What he sensed was a strange weariness. The same weariness that an old, heirless king might have or even a sole grandparent raising his dead children's offspring. It was the weariness of someone who had had enough of life. Some who wanted to move on, leave it all behind but couldn't because he had too many responsibilities left to fulfill.

It surprised the Shinigami and he felt a little sympathy and admiration fill him for the veteran who had aged so far beyond his years. He even felt a sorry for the choice he was about to present Kakashi with but it couldn't be helped. And exchange had to be made. One can never make something out of nothing. In his own opinion, the Shinigami thought that he had done a lot for these ninja. He had led them to the discovery of Naruto's existence, led them to his prison. Using dreams and surreptitiously killing the competition, he had practically spoon fed them the answers. He had done enough. He would provide them with one last short cut. Then it would be time for the humans to start doing things out of their own volition.

"What proposal is this?" Kakashi asked tiredly as he relaxed his pose, realizing the futility of staying rigid against an opponent they could not fight. The other three followed suit, seeming to mark him as the leader of their group.

"I want Naruto," the Shinigami stated firmly, leaving no room for argument. He saw the raised eyebrows at his proclamation. "I want him to be free. I want him to be my 'champion on earth' of sorts," he continued conversationally.

"Your…champion?" Kakashi whispered numbly.

"Oh come now," the Shinigami waved his hand airily. "All those seemingly invincible shinobi from all those ancient legends? Do you honestly think they got as far as they did without any divine help?" he asked. They all looked at him dumbstruck though he hadn't expected them to answer him in the first place.

"Even the first shinobi on the planet had my help, remember that," the Shinigami spoke softly and he saw that this got his audience's interest. They stared at him as school children would when a teacher starts a fascinating new topic. "He would never have succeeded without me. You see, I'm not like the others of my kind. Every once in a while you humans do something that really…_irks_ me and I just need to do something about it. This time it's Naruto Namikaze's imprisonment. _I don't like it_," he growled out menacingly. All at once, the humans in front of him started trembling, clenching and unclenching their hands. The Shinigami realized that if he did not retain his composure, the humans wouldn't survive.

"If nothing else, I appreciate sacrifice. And I appreciate dreams," he continued more calmly. "And I honestly do not want either of Minato Namikaze's to go to waste. So I offer you this proposal. I want Naruto's freedom. You want Naruto's freedom. I can provide you with a means to liberate him."

He saw Kakashi swallow hard. "Wh…What is…this means?" he asked, his voice clearly quavering. The Shinigami narrowed his eyes. He had to finish his business quickly before the urge to murder overtook them all.

"A jutsu of course!" the Shinigami replied matter-of-factly. "If such a situation should arise when you should choose to unlock this little seal, you may summon me. And I will do the rest. I will unlock the seal…but there is a price."

"Which is?" Ko asked. The Shinigami raised an eyebrow, impressed. He had written off the Hyuga as a weakling but maybe he had been wrong. He shifted his gaze to Kakashi and the Shinigami knew that Kakashi understood exactly what the price would be.

"The caster's soul," the Shinigami stated blandly. Anko let out a whimper. "Do you accept the terms?" He was greeted with silence. The silence lasted a long time before Itachi spoke up.

"We have our own fuinjutsu specialists," Itachi croaked, his voice sounding as if it had not been used in decades. "He may be able to find the key to unlocking this seal."

"You refer to the Gama Sennin," the Shinigami said. "I concede that he is a man of considerable talent and, given enough time, he could break through this elaborate contraption. However, will he have enough time? It may take him years and he _would_ need to revisit sites such as this one," he reasoned. "I too am governed by certain laws and there are only so many times I can kill the guards for you."

He saw them looking desperately at each other and he softened a little. "I'm not trying to maliciously hurt you, truly I'm not. I can't continue doing you any more favors or telling you anything else. So I'm providing you with a shortcut, a relatively simple, if not easy, way to obtain Naruto Namikaze's freedom."

He paused, surveying each face. Ko looked terrified, Anko flabbergasted at his suggestion. Itachi was seemed unsure and Kakashi…Kakashi was weary.

"I'll give you a day to decide," the Shinigami declared, turning around. "I want your answer by tomorrow night."

"Wait," Kakashi called and the Shinigami slowly turned around. "You can have my answer now. My answer is yes. I accept your proposal."

"Kakashi!" Anko let out a strangled cry. Itachi's lips parted in surprise and Ko looked ready to pass out.

"Are you sure?" the Shinigami cautioned. "There's no going back once the deal has been struck."

"I'm sure," Kakashi replied and for a moment even the Shinigami was taken off guard by the pure conviction in his voice. "I'm sure," Kakashi repeated. "Teach me the jutsu."

And the Shinigami's admiration for Kakashi increased a notch.

~/ *** \~

Kakashi had his back to the people gathered there. His index finger absentmindedly rubbed his thumb where the puncture was still fresh. From this wound, the blood that had sealed his fate had been spilt.

'_It's easier to break things than to construct,' the Shinigami had said as Kakashi signed and for a moment Kakashi thought that he had seen pity in his eyes. 'So I can do one thing for you. I can prolong your stay. I can take your soul piece by piece over a few years. You'd soul would be inevitably bound to me but you could remain on this plane. Just for a few years mind you…What say you?'_

'_Prolong your stay?'_ Kakashi almost laughed out. Prolong his torture more like it. But Kakashi had agreed because…if he even lived only a minute after the seal was broken there was a chance that he'd be able to see sensei's son for himself. Just to see what he looked like after all these years. That wish was going to make him suffer an excruciating pain, he knew, but what could he do? Sometimes logic really had no room in his mind.

In front of him on a small table lay a scroll, detailing the summoning jutsu he was to cast.

'_Study it well, Kakashi-kun…'_

Beside him Itachi lifted a hand and, after a little hesitation, placed it on his shoulder and gave a reassuring squeeze. But there was no reassurance Itachi could give, was there? Beside him, Anko and Ko sat, still too shaken to comment on what had happened. Behind him, Kakashi heard someone clearing their throat impatiently, waiting for Kakashi to come out of his reverie and explain why he had called them to a meeting so suddenly in the middle of the night.

Kakashi slowly turned around and faced his peers. Not everyone in their underground organization was present, just those who could be considered their leaders. The ones whom Kakashi knew he could trust with his life and more.

In the moment before he started speaking, Kakashi knew he had done the right thing. Naruto deserved his freedom and these people deserved hope, they deserved a champion. Kakashi did not deserve much of anything at all. His life was just a small sacrifice in comparison to everything Naruto's life could be. Naruto was his salvation, his redemption for everyone he'd failed so far in his life.

With a deep breath Kakashi let loose the sentence that would turn the lives of everyone present in the room upside down.

"Naruto Namikaze is alive."

~/ *** \~

Nearly a week later, Jiraiya stood in a dimly lit, chilly underground cavern. He had swallow down his hammering heart and excitement. He could still hardly believe the fact that Minato's only son was still alive. His godson was still alive. And heaven help the person who had kept him from Jiraiya.

Jiraiya knew the history behind Sarutobi-sensei and Danzo. He had spies hidden everywhere. Before Danzo's regime he had been a travelling hermit, sure, but he had also been the head of Konoha's information network. Not anymore. But he would have been a fool to put all of his contacts on a piece of paper that could be seized or to blab about them to anyone. In his mind, Jiraiya had little doubt that Danzo was behind his sensei's assassination. That was reason enough to hate Danzo's very existence with every fiber of his being but to learn that that monster had locked up Minato's son? Used him a power source to fuel his wars? Jiraiya could barely contain his outrage.

It had been a few days since he had received the message; since then all Jiraiya could think of was Naruto. What Naruto looked like, what his personality would be like, how Jiraiya would train him… Because Jiraiya _would_ train him. It was clear now, from Kakashi's message that Naruto was the one.

Jiraiya had failed constantly. He had failed a lot of exams in his childhood. He had failed to bring back his best friend, he had failed himself, his sensei, his village, his student…He had failed Minato…He would not-could not- fail again. He would succeed with Naruto. _He had to._ Naruto would be his redemption for all of his failures. He was the one thing Jiraiya was determined to do right. Naruto was his sole hope now.

Behind him Jiraiya could hear footsteps. Finally, they came to a rest.

"Well, Jiraiya of the Sannin," a tired but proud voice called. "You asked to meet me privately and here I am. What do you want from me?"

"You're sure that there is no one else over here?" Jiraiya asked as he turned to face him.

The man snorted. "Your village practically owns mine now. Didn't you hear?" he sneered. "We can't cope with Konoha anymore. We're surrendering. Agreeing to your _terms_. How would I possibly dare to defy your orders?" the man spat bitterly. In him, Jiraiya sensed exhaustion and contempt for himself. He could fight no longer and his own predicament disgusted him. But he was a realistic man. Jiraiya's death would bring him no comfort. In fact, the man knew that it might only worsen his situation to try such an assassination. So Jiraiya knew he was telling the truth when he claimed that they were alone.

"Now, I'll ask again," the man said. "What do you want from me?"

"Simply put," Jiraiya said. "I want to make a deal. I want your son. Your youngest one, to be more specific. I want to train him."

The man stared at him, startled. "You want what?" he asked in a numb voice, seemingly unable to believe Jiraiya's words. So Jiraiya repeated for his benefit.

"I want to train Sabaku no Gaara."

~/ *** \~

**A/N:** DUN DUN DUN! I'm terribly sorry for the long hiatus. My country's situation isn't so great and when your country doesn't do well, you aren't going to do well either. Please pray for Bangladesh! But on a happier note, I've finally managed to settle into a routine (ish) and am now going to update my stories on a bi-monthly basis. As in, since this chapter's been posted on the last day of December so you can expect the next one on the last day of February. Given that my past updating speed would put a snail to shame, I'd say that this is an improvement, wouldn't you? I'll also try to make them longer instead of puny like this one which should be easier as the story's starting to pick up.

Like it? Hate it? Leave a review!

P. S- I really like the juxtaposition of Naruto in this fic. In canon, he used to be the bane of the village and in this one; he's everyone's hope and savior. It makes for a very different kind of personality for ou Naruto. XD

P. P . S- HAPPY NEW YEAR!


	6. Of Love and Sacrifice

"…and the buildings they live in have all sorts of things! Like kitchens where they cook food-did you know people die if they don't 'eat'?-and they've got bathrooms too where they have to 'excrete waste'…which is really…," Naruto made a face akin to disgust and Kyuubi had to chuckle, wondering if Naruto even knew what disgust was.

"Anyway," Naruto continued excitedly, "they've got all sorts of things in houses. Beds where they sleep, chairs and sofas and stuff. And when they cook, they've got all these wonderful smells just floating around! It smells horrible in here! It didn't use to bother me before but now it does. Food smells great! Wish I could 'taste' some. Oh, and the women seem to cook more often than the men, I don't know why; maybe they're just better at it…" Naruto carried on his list of endless new experiences.

Kyuubi hummed absentmindedly, only half paying attention to Naruto's nonstop narration. There was only so much she could pay attention to and only so long before her interest ran out. As she listened to Naruto, her mind started drifting and she began to think of a cozy apartment…she thought of arms encircling her, hands resting on her swollen belly, jesting words being whispered in her ear…and all around the smell of cooking food was wafting, the most prominent of which was ramen…

Her eyes snapped open and she growled out loud, cursing those wayward thoughts. She hated them, she tried to convince herself. She hated those memories; she hated _everything_ about the Yondaime and Kushina. Those thoughts only reminded her of her torturous imprisonments at the hands of the Uzumaki! She needed to think of them with abhorrence, she thought angrily, not with…longing? Was that what it was?

Kyuubi shook her head heatedly. No; it couldn't be, it couldn't be! But no matter how hard she tried to deny it, she knew the truth. That somewhere inside of her…during the very final moments of when the Yondaime's seal…Kushina Uzumaki had-

"Nee-chan?" Naruto asked uncertainly, worried by her sudden outburst. "Are you…okay?"

Kyuubi huffed in annoyance and she banished her thoughts, refusing to ever visit them again. But she knew they would surface again sooner or later. They always did. She peered out of the bars of her cage to look at Naruto's face, concerned and curious all at once. He was _always_ so curious.

"Naruto, come here," Kyuubi said with a little indecision. _What are you doing?_ She asked herself. "Come closer."

Naruto stood up from the muddy water and hesitantly stepped forward. In all the thirteen years they had spent in each other's company, she had never asked him to come closer before. If anything, she asked him to maintain his distance so that it would be easier for her to maintain _her_ distance, to try and treat him as if he were just another human being. She had failed in that regard a long time ago. Ever since the seal was constructed, she'd been doomed to care for Naruto more than she had for any other being in the universe; that much was clear to her now. Maintaining a few boundaries in the landscape of Naruto's mind seemed pointless at the present. Especially since, in a few months, there was a chance that Naruto would die.

In a few months, the Shinigami had said, Naruto would _possibly_ be freed. Possibly. Or perhaps, Naruto's fragile body would crumble in the conflict that would be necessary for their freedom. That was another possibility. She would escape with temporary damage but humans were so, so much more delicate. She used to scorn at their frailty, she used to enjoy breaking them down. Now, the mere thought of it frightened her because of Naruto. If Naruto _were_ to die…well, she could move on. She wanted to be free of Naruto's mental cage as well so she was sure that she'd get over it. But she'd be lying if she said that it wouldn't hurt her.

Naruto stopped right in front of her cage and sat down again, looking at her in a puzzled manner. Slowly, Kyuubi reached out a hand and touched Naruto's cheek. Carefully so as to not hurt him with her sharp nails (although she was not sure if that was even possible in Naruto's mind when he had such a limited grasp of pain), she ran her thumb across his cheek, tracing the lines there. Naruto's brows furrowed and he looked mystified at this sudden change in her behavior. But he didn't complain and Kyuubi could tell that as puzzled as he was, he enjoyed the closeness she was suddenly displaying.

'_He'll never know a true mother's love…he'll never know it…'_ a voice inside her lamented. Kyuubi froze and then immediately retracted her hand. This action was followed by a long silence. Each, in their own way, trying to figure out exactly why Kyuubi had done what she had done and the significance of such a thing.

"…Your skin's not red," Naruto finally spoke, dragging Kyuubi out of her inner turmoil.

"What?" she asked, a little confused.

"Everything behind the door looks red…so I thought you were red too," Naruto explained himself. "But it's not. It's that cream colour a lot of people have. But I could have sworn you were red…"

Kyuubi laughed. "My hair's the red you see, kit. And my eyes too, I suppose," she explained. "And 'cream' colour? Really? That guy sure is teaching you a lot of colours, isn't he?" she mused.

"Yeah!" Naruto nodded excitedly. "He teaches me a lot of stuff. I know how people are supposed to live now-"

Kyuubi groaned. "Please, Naruto," she beseeched him. "Don't talk to me of houses and buildings anymore. Talk to me about landforms and the countryside. He showed you a fair few of those too, didn't he?"

"Well yeah," Naruto replied and she could tell that the idea of beautiful scenes of nature did not appeal to him as much as the idea of villages and people did. What a typical human.

"Well," Naruto rummaged his memories, trying to remember all the names. "There are deserts and they're filled with this stuff called sand. And when lots of trees cluster together you call it a forest. There are different kinds of forests too but the Shinigami says that I don't need to know all of them now. Huge blocks of rock are called mountains and lots of mountains together are called a mountain range. Konoha's carved people's faces into the mountains behind the village but I don't know why. I guess I forgot to ask. Oh, and lots of water together can be ponds or lakes or even seas, depending on their size. There's the sun and the moon and stars in the sky and they're all bright but the bright doesn't scare me or hurt me anymore…"

Kyuubi had to admit it, she was impressed. She had expected him to forget all of it soon but he remembered most of it very well.

"And…and…" Naruto frowned in frustration. "I can't remember any more," he admitted sheepishly.

"That's fine," Kyuubi reassured him (comforting a human-oh how the old her would have laughed). "You remembered quite a lot."

"It hurts my head sometimes," Naruto confessed, wincing a little from the recollections of it. His lessons in pain never failed to amuse Kyuubi and she had felt relieved to find out that this stupid brat hadn't stamped out all of the sadism in her. "It hurts to see so many things and try to remember all of their names," he continued.

Kyuubi snorted. "Of course it does," she said derisively. "He's trying to cram thirteen years worth of knowledge and maturity into your head in the span of a few weeks! And he's failing badly on the maturity part. I'll bet one of my tails he'll never get that done on time."

Naruto frowned and Kyuubi knew that he was confused on her comment about her tails. Humans, after all, didn't have tails. Animals like squirrels did. But Naruto didn't ask her to explain, perhaps because he'd long since accepted the explanation that she was 'special' and unlike most people in many ways. Instead he asked a question that threw Kyuubi completely off guard.

"Nee-chan," Naruto asked, "are you a pessimist?"

"Pessimist?!" she cried out in mirth. "Hah! That's an awfully big word you've learned there, Naruto. Did the Shinigami teach you that?"

"Yep," Naruto said a little proudly. "He said that you were a pessimist and that means you only see the bad things in life and I'm an optimist which means that I only see the good things. Are you one?"

"I guess I am," Kyuubi admitted, still chuckling.

"But why?" Naruto asked eagerly. "There's so much good in the world, why would you only see the bad?"

"Oh, Naruto," Kyuubi replied. "You've seen the world outside for barely a week and you already know that there's 'bad' stuff out there. If in a week, you've already seen bad then imagine what people who've lived for years have seen. Yet you optimists only see the good."

Naruto gazed at her through the bar, confused.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is," Kyuubi continued, tickled as always by his immature questions, "that I'm a pessimist because you're an optimist. If you only see good, then you need me to see the bad for you and vice-versa. That's why we need to stick together," she added jokingly.

Naruto grinned suddenly. "I guess that makes sense…You know a week ago I didn't know what vice-versa meant."

Kyuubi rolled her eyes. The boy could never stay stationary on a single topic for more than a few minutes. A trait carried over from his mother.

"Hey, nee-chan," Naruto asked again. "The world's got a lot of bad in it, doesn't it? I mean, I don't understand most of it but the Shinigami says that bad people take things that aren't theirs and hurt other people and cause them pain. There's a lot of bad out there, isn't there? More than he's telling me?"

Kyuubi sighed. She hated these questions, the ones where she felt a strange obligation to comfort him. "Yeah kit, there's a lot of bad out there. But like I said, you're only supposed to see the good."

"But you'll stay with me, won't you?" Naruto insisted anxiously. "You'll stay with me when the Shinigami finally takes us out there? Like you said, we need to stick together. Right?"

Kyuubi groaned. She should never have said that. She didn't want to 'stick together' with Naruto. She didn't want to stick together with anyone at all! She was a loner and she preferred it that way. She wanted to be free to do what she wanted with no one beside her. Just her and the wind whistling through her fur. She was tempted to tell Naruto that. However, when she saw his nervous face gazing at her from between the bars of her cell, something inside her moved like it always did whenever Naruto was concerned.

'_Interesting,' the Shinigami had said. 'You actually care for the boy.' _

He had no idea just how much. Kyuubi reached out her hand again instinctively and took Naruto's one, squeezing it in what she hoped was a reassuring way.

"You damned brat," she said softly. "Of course I'll stay with you."

Immediately, Naruto's face brightened again and he smiled at her. "Thank you, nee-chan," he said.

Kyuubi nodded faintly and firmly ignored the voice in her head that regretted teaching him to call her nee-chan instead of kaa-chan.

~/ *** \~

"It has been five days," Danzo stated. "Five days and neither Anko Mitarashi nor Mikoto Uchiha is dead yet."

"Anko Mitarashi has not given me any opportunities to corner her yet. She spends her nights and days in crowded areas filled with witnesses. While I admit that assassinations have been carried out in such circumstances before, the way she orchestrates her moves makes it almost impossible to isolate her. I cannot find a suitable way to take her out without leaving numerous spectators," Itachi replied steadily, his heart hammering away in his chest. "Poison will not work on her as she is a far superior expert than me in that area. I believe you wanted to make certain that this should be squashed without arousing anyone's suspicions, Hokage-sama, so I have not made my move yet.

"I am also concerned that she may know of your orders. Although she has always been highly social, Anko never displayed such a frivolous and outgoing nature as she is doing now. That, coupled with the fact that her activities make it impossible to eliminate her, makes me believe that somehow your orders have been leaked. Of course, we must also consider that she has been known to have sudden bouts of erratic behavior."

_Please, Kami, don't be suspicious. Don't target me. Don't target anyone else important, _Itachi beseeched in his mind. It was a necessary to tell such a half-truth but it came with a price. Thus far, it had been decided that Anko could not be killed yet so Itachi had to buy time in any manner possible. Anko had made it easier with her new routine but it still begged the question of why she would change her manners so suddenly. Danzo would find it extremely doubtful. Perhaps he would launch a real investigation so as to whether or not his orders _had_ been leaked. Then they'd all be in hot water.

However this was necessary. Anko could not be killed yet. So they moved with extreme caution and they tried to buy time until they could formulate a more concrete plan. But time was running out fast.

"Hmmm," Danzo said softly, his face expressionless as always and, as always, it was a projection in the Hokage's chair, staring down at Itachi and ordering him to do his foul bidding. "And what of Mikoto Uchiha?"

"She does not seem to suspect anything yet," Itachi responded.

"Why is she not dead yet?" Danzo asked. "Surely she too did not suddenly change her social habits?"

Itachi's jaw clenched, just a little, before he caught himself.

"I-" he started to speak but Danzo saved him the trouble.

"I understand the dilemma you are faced with," Danzo said softly. "It is never easy to let go of _emotional_ attachments." Itachi's skin crawled with goose bumps despite his best efforts. The way Danzo spoke the word emotion, as though it were a vile, disgusting beast; some insect that stuck to the sole of your boot. It made Itachi feel nauseated.

"But we must let go of emotions for the greater good," Danzo continued in his silky voice. "They are the root of all the poison in this world. I can understand your problem but I cannot tolerate it. Mikoto Uchiha _will_ die and you _will_ kill her. Is that clear?"

"Of course, Hokage-sama," Itachi replied obediently.

"What's more, I have found more traitors," Danzo said and Itachi had to bite back a startled retort. He could feel the pressure growing in his chest and he felt as though his mask would crack any moment, he'd break down and expose them all. But he didn't. He simply looked at Danzo passionlessly, waiting for the bomb to drop, playing the part of the dutiful soldier.

Danzo pointed to a file on his desk, indicating that Itachi should pick it up. Itachi complied and flipped it open. What he found inside made him want to collapse and cry in frustration; it made him want to burn down the world starting with this damned Hokage Tower and all its fallacies.

But he didn't. He couldn't. So he simply accepted his orders. The orders which said he had to kill more of his innocent clansmen. The clansmen who were children, who had just become chunin, whose only faults were that they were related to Itachi and mildly close to Mikoto.

~/ *** \~

Anko blithely fell in step with the gyrating bodies around her. She was tried, so very tired but she kept up a façade of playfulness, making it seem as if she were having the time of her life. Her companions cheered and howled around and she joined in without really wanting to.

A few more hours and she would collapse from chakra exhaustion. But all she needed was a few hours to make her escape.

Really, she had to thank the Shinigami even if hoped that she never meet him again. Thanks to him, it had been unanimously decided that she was too important to simply kill off. Otherwise, many of the others might have considered sacrificing her to protect their secret. There must be a reason; they had all hypothesized, for only her and Itachi to have received the visions from the Shinigami. They must be important, somehow, to the Shinigami's future plans. Thus she could not be killed.

A relief but she _still_ had to escape for Itachi _still_ had express orders to assassinate her from Danzo himself. If she did not die soon, Itachi's cover would be blown. She was pretty sure that Shinigami or no Shinigami; Itachi Uchiha could kill her to save his own skin.

So, with help from a few of her closest confidants, Anko had taken precautions. She had taken no chances and she had prepared a plan. A plan which was currently in effect.

Somewhere in Konoha, Itachi Uchiha was tailing a shadow clone of Anko's through the busy streets. In another corner far away, Kurenai was posing as her, eating dango and dancing across another sleazy club. And somewhere, the real Anko was making her getaway from Konoha.

Anko's shadow clone mentally sighed as she made a show of drinking sake in a lascivious manner from a neighbor's cup. A few more hours and she'd pop, having used up all of her allotted chakra. She hoped the real her made it to safety by then.

~/ *** \~

"Why?" the Yondaime Kazekage demanded, half stupefied and half suspicious.

Jiraiya allowed a small smirk to curl upon his lips. "Isn't it obvious?" Jiraiya asked. "I want to train him. I already said so."

"Why _him_?" the Yondaime asked impatiently. "Of all the young ninja in your own land, why my son?"

"Because," Jiraiya said in a carefully measured voice. "He's a jinchuriki."

"You know of that? I suppose that is to be expected. I did once try to use him in battle," the Yondaime said in a tired voice and Jiraiya snorted.

"Everyone knows about the spectacular debacle you created with him," he said.

"Then you should know what he is: a failure," the Yondaime replied bitterly. "He's not fit for anything but crude battle. I have tried so hard to involve him in this war but he was too unstable! When I could send him into battle, he destroyed half my own troops along with the enemy's. Then he was quickly defeated. He's a complete failure, nothing more."

"Failure or not, a jinchuriki is always a powerful weapon," Jiraiya growled out, controlling his anger despite his repulsion for the man who would speak of his own son that way. It would never do if he attacked the person he was supposed to be forming an alliance with. "If trained and controlled, Sabaku no Gaara would become a very valuable asset."

"Is that it then?" he asked. Jiraiya could sense the anger and bitterness inside the other man. He was proud and he had been forced to kneel. His wounded pride hurt him in every step he took. What was commendable, though, was that the Yondaime seemed to know when to continue fighting and when to accept defeat to live to fight another day. "This is Konoha trying to assimilate all the wealth it can glean from its new satellite state? Haven't you been listening? I tried so hard to control him-"

"You went about it the wrong way," Jiraiya retorted, raising his voice. "If, instead ostracizing him in an effort to test his limits, you'd just _raised_ him like a proper son; I think you would have found his loyalty to you unwavering. You went about it completely the wrong way."

"My country had suffered," the Yondaime defended himself obstinately. "I needed a trump card and I needed it quickly. Everything I did was to make him invincible. I tried to make him strong, to see how much he could take. How was I to know that he would be so _weak_ as to crumble like that at the first sign of betrayal?"

"Gee, why would a child break down after an emotional battering like that?" Jiraiya mocked derisively, his contempt seeping into his voice. "Who would have thought it possible?"

"I did what I had to do!" the Yondaime spoke through gritted teeth, clearly angered. Jiraiya had not noticed before but he now realized that the underground cavern was not covered in sand at all. It was covered in gold dust; gold dust which was now swirling agitatedly, reacting to their master's emotions. Jiraiya did not know if the dust had been prepared beforehand for the Kazekage's safety or if it followed the Kage everywhere. What he did know was that he had to tread extremely carefully to avoid a fight. "I've made some mistakes, I'll admit that but it was all to save my village!" the Kazekage insisted. "What I did was what I thought was necessary at the time."

"What you did was stupid!" Jiraiya told him loudly. "But I'm sure I can fix the mistake born out of your stupidity. I want to give that child what he deserves: a proper mentor, a proper guide to show him the way."

"You want a weapon for your country," the Yondaime accused. "You want nothing to do with my son; you want what's sealed inside him."

"That's not true," Jiraiya argued. "But I'd be lying if I said that the Ichibi does not interest me. The moot point is I want your son. Can I have him or not?"

"You speak as if I have a choice," the Yondaime said, quickly becoming exhausted with the conversation.

"You do have a choice," Jiraiya told him, planning out his next words carefully in advance. These next words would make or break this possible alliance. "Despite being a crap father, he's still your son."

"Konoha can take whatever wealth it wants from me," the Yondaime said resentfully. "My land, my children - I can hardly refuse."

"Ah, there's a problem there," Jiraiya said delicately. They'd arrived at the main point at last. "I'm not representing Konoha in this meeting."

The Yondaime raised his eyebrows in surprise. All around him the gold dust stilled, floating in the air in a way that Jiraiya found morbidly beautiful.

"I'm representing another party," Jiraiya continued, his voice lowering with each word. "A party that requires the extra muscle a jinchuriki would bring. And here's how you would possibly help this party. You would give us Gaara. You would not tell the Hokage of this meeting or of what happened to your son. You would tell him that you let Gaara go because he was useless to you and don't know his whereabouts anymore. And you would make an alliance with me and this third party."

"Who is this mysterious third party?" the Yondaime asked softly, intrigued.

"They are to remain a mystery," Jiraiya replied.

"And what would I glean from such an alliance?" he asked.

"If all is successful, you'd get your Sunagakure back."

There was a short pause as each man weighed the other carefully.

"A coup," the Yondaime finally spoke. His voice sounded interested.

Jiraiya smiled wryly. "Guess you weren't born yesterday after all. Do you agree to an alliance, Kazekage-sama?"

"…I would," the man replied. "If certain terms and conditions are met."

"Of course," Jiraiya answered, relieved. The cat was in the bag. All he had to do was tighten the knot. "We have a few conditions too. For starters, I might require your other children too. Kankuro and Temari, wasn't it?"

~/ *** \~

Mikoto slowly stirred the kettle of tea, lost in the fog of memories.

When she was young, she had been a gentle soul. She had not excelled at the Academy but she had not been bad either. It was generally accepted that she would be an average ninja of gennin or chunin rank serving until she married. At that point, she would retire and raise her children. Mikoto had been comfortable with that. She even felt comforted at being relieved of heavy expectations. She did not like battle but she loved family so her pre-planned future had never bothered her in the least.

One day, a redheaded foreigner had come to the class. She had introduced herself and her intentions _very_ loudly and Mikoto had giggled at her audacity along with everyone else. She had not thought much of the foreigner. Then she had seen her get ambushed after school and she saw how she had defeated all those boys bigger than her. Mikoto had been awed and, in her awe, she had invited Kushina Uzumaki over to her house to help clean up her scrapes. It was the beginning of a lifelong friendship.

After that, Kushina came over every other invited or uninvited and Mikoto welcomed her. They started talking. Kushina had talked of becoming Hokage and a world renowned kunoichi and Mikoto had confessed that she'd like nothing more than a child to cherish and a husband to love. Kushina had wrinkled her nose but had assented that children were cool too. Before they knew it, they were each other's best friend.

Becoming Kushina's friend changed Mikoto's life. Suddenly she wanted to try harder and be better and _who was it that said that she could not become jonnin?_ She wanted to prove them all wrong. Kushina helped. They trained together and discussed battle tactics; something Mikoto had never really often done with her other friends. Afterwards they would lie on the training field and have tomato juice and ramen. Through Kushina's constant interference, Mikoto had gone from average to competent to amazing. Perhaps not extraordinary but certainly very good. Mikoto was always been grateful to Kushina for that. Kushina continued training and Mikoto turned her interests in becoming a medic at the hospital.

It was Mikoto to whom Kushina went after a mission was completed. It was Kushina who would listen to Mikoto rant about the perfect new novel she had read. Kushina was the first one to congratulate Mikoto on her jonnin promotion, a dream only Kushina had believed in at first. By happy coincidence, Kushina was also the first patient Mikoto had treated while working at the hospital. It was to Mikoto that Kushina had divulged the terrible secret of her burden.

Only Mikoto was ever allowed to touch Kushina's hair and she had been the first one to call it beautiful. Kushina had blushed lightly but had refused to believe it. Once, during their usual post-mission ramen meal, Kushina had confessed (blushing as red as her hair this time) that Minato Namikaze had just called her hair beautiful too. He had rescued her too so maybe, maybe he wasn't such a giant wimp after all. Mikoto had laughed and teased her endlessly.

Kushina eventually fell for Minato and Mikoto for Fugaku. Mikoto had retired and married because; as much as she loved the thrill of life as a jonnin she loved children more. She had already had Itachi by the time Kushina had married Minato. In fact, Kushina served as a jonnin till her pregnancy with Naruto. Around the same time, Mikoto had been pregnant with Sasuke.

They had planned endlessly. Mikoto had assuaged Kushina's worries and guided her through the new experiences of pregnancy. And they had dreamed: dreamed of a future where their children could safely grow up. A world where the wars would be over. Mikoto had dreamed that Naruto and Sasuke would be best friends just like their mothers. They would grow up together, have play dates and would train together. All those dreams had been crushed by the Kyuubi.

Mikoto put the spoon and sipped her tea from her own cup which was specifically set aside. Her eyes were sorrowful. It was just so unfair. She had never even seen the child. Did he have Minato's blue eyes? Kushina's vibrant red hair? What did he look like? If he had been allowed to grow up, would he have been gentle and calm like Minato? Or brash and hot-headed like Kushina? Would he and Sasuke have been friends? She hoped so but these questions were unanswerable and useless to dwell upon.

It hurt and incensed her to think that Danzo would use a child like that. It was unjust that the child of a person as wondrous as Kushina would never see the light of day. It was unfair that Minato, who had sacrificed everything for Konoha, would be repaid in this manner: his only heir living in complete imprisonment. It was wrong, so very wrong, the predicament her oldest son faced at the moment. It was absolutely evil what she planned to do. But she would do it a thousand times over if it meant ensuring Itachi's safety and saving him from committing such a crime himself. It was a necessary sacrifice.

"Mikoto-san?"

Mikoto looked up and saw the smiling face of a distant nephew of hers. He was surrounded by his fellow comrades and family members, having come to a seldom used meeting house at Mikoto's request.

"You wanted to see us?" another asked, looking around a little confusedly, wondering no doubt what they were doing here.

"Yes, yes," Mikoto greeted them with a smile on her face. She rose and motioned for them to sit. "I have a few important things to discuss with you," she lied easily. "But first, won't you like some tea?"

~/ *** \~

"So Anko made her escape," Itachi told Kakashi as he sat down on a chair in the latter's kitchen. It was the first time he had set foot there since the night of they met the Shinigami. Itachi was not sure if Kakashi would want to talk of that still so he decided not to bring it up. Even now, the air felt heavy around Kakashi, as though the weight of his decision was circling around him. "I'm a little surprised to have been fooled so easily."

Kakashi eye-smiled at him from across the table. "Anko is much smarter than you give her credit for, Itachi," he told him. "Just because she's a little loud doesn't mean that she's incompetent or stupid."

"I never said that she was," Itachi replied.

"But you thought it, didn't you?" Kakashi accused in a light voice.

Itachi simply rolled his eyes. Along with Sasuke, Shisui and his mother, Kakashi was one of the few people Itachi could drop his mask in front of. It was never completely gone, of course. He was too habituated to hiding himself for that. But they did remind him of whom he was. Without them he might have forgotten himself a long time ago. He might have forgotten what it was like to have a personality, to laugh around and joke and not be stretched as tight as a drum all the time. Without them he might have become a Root member; soulless and without emotions and only capable of doing what he was ordered to.

"Are you going to tell me where she is?" Itachi asked him.

"She has asked me not to," Kakashi said. He leaned forward, suddenly all business. "I might but that is not why I asked to come here."

Itachi raised his eyebrows. "What is it then?"

"Your mother," Kakashi answered seriously. "Have you formulated a plan yet?"

Itachi slumped in his seat, abruptly exhausted. "Not yet," Itachi admitted in a tired voice. "I delayed for far too long and now I have orders to kill others. I don't think I will be able to fabricate bodies for all of them. And I still have to find a suitable replacement for Anko. Danzo can't know she suddenly disappeared. I must prove that I killed her." Itachi closed his eyes and pressed his fingers against the bridge of his nose. "I don't know how I can do any of this, even with help from all of you."

"We might not have a plan yet…but I believe your mother does," Kakashi informed him quietly.

"What?" Itachi's eyes snapped open. "How do you know this?" he demanded.

"Because she came over here," Kakashi calmly replied. "She came over and demanded that I tell her everything I knew about your mission. So I did."

"You told her everything?" Itachi exclaimed, almost angry.

"I saw no reason not to," Kakashi said in the same calm demeanor. "She already knew of your orders to kill her and Anko from the discussions at the meeting. All I did was notifying her of Anko's escape and of the additional people you now have to kill."

Itachi's mouth opened to say something but Kakashi cut him off.

"We have no plan, no ideas at all," Kakashi told him sternly. "We are running around like headless chickens trying to fit everything in neatly into a plot but we can't. It seemed to me that Mikoto had a plan though," Kakashi stared straight at Itachi, unblinking. "I could see it in her eyes. She needed information to bring that plan into fruition. I was more than happy to oblige."

Itachi almost grit his teeth in frustration but instead, he rearranged his face into that carefully neutral mask he always wore in times of stress. He was completely unsure of what to feel. Be angry at Kakashi? Could he justify doing so? He had not wanted his mother to find out. He had wanted to deal with it himself, to only inform her when it came time for her to make her escape.

"So my mother has a plan," he told Kakashi in a deadly steady voice. "Is there anything else?"

"Yes," Kakashi nodded solemnly. The air around him seemed to grow even heavier and Itachi took a deep breath to get ready for whatever was coming. "She wanted me to tell you to meet her in one of the unused meeting rooms near the store houses at the west side of the compound at four o'clock."

It was still fifteen minutes left till four but Itachi was already out the door. He did not even bother to ask which meeting room.

~/ *** \~

Itachi stood in the doorway and stared, open-mouthed, at the fallen bodies of his clansmen strewn around the table. Tea was spilled everywhere. In the midst of it all, his mother sat serenely sipping her own cup. She looked up at him and smiled a small regretful smile, unshed tears in her eyes. Ice started creeping up his chest, flowing through his veins and his mask completely fell apart.

"Kaa-san…" he whispered numbly, the distress clearly showing on his face.

"Poison," his mother told him, her voice cracking slightly and Itachi winced. She blinked away the tears, refusing to shed them. "If you should ever be faced with such a situation-and I pray that you don't- remember this: the easiest way to kill someone who irrevocably trusts you is to poison them. They'll never suspect anything you give them to eat or drink."

"Kaa-san!" Itachi cried out again. His heart felt as though it might shatter from the force it was pounding with. He could not hide himself away anymore; not now, not in front of his mother. "What did you do?" he whispered in a broken voice.

"What I had to do," Mikoto informed him, her eyes hard. "And I would do it a thousand times over if it meant saving you. I did my duty as a mother. And now it's time for you to do yours."

Mikoto put down her cup and walked over slowly. Itachi's eyes watched her progress, unable to move, trying to guess her next move. His mother stopped in front of him and put her hand on his cheek. She smiled a watery smile at him. Itachi didn't smile back. All he could do was watch her, transfixed.

"You are a wonderful son, Itachi," she told him softly. It was the same voice she always used to reassure him, to encourage him. The same voice he had heard since childhood. But now, it sounded polluted to his ears. His ever-kind, all-loving mother now stood on a broken pedestal.

"I am so, so proud to have been your mother," she said and hugged him tightly. Dazedly, Itachi grabbed her shoulders in response. His stomach was churning when he finally registered her words.

"Have been?" he asked in a faint voice. "What do you mean b-?"

Before he could finish his sentence, Mikoto did something unexpected. But then again, this whole day had been full of unexpected surprises. She grabbed the tanto nestled between his shoulder blades and unsheathed it. She stepped back and offered the handle to Itachi. It took Itachi only a moment to understand what she wanted him to do.

He snatched the tanto away but refused to point it at her. "No," he told her firmly. "I can't. I won't. Not you."

Mikoto adopted the same expression parents often wore when their children were being petulant and it irked Itachi. It bothered him that she was thinking that _he_ was the one who was being unreasonable.

"Itachi," she said sadly. "This is the story the public will learn. A few of the Uchiha children got drunk and got in a fight. Mikoto, the wife of the clan head, was in the area and tried to stop them. However, the situation quickly escalated and a fire started which consumed them all. What a tragedy."

Itachi narrowed his eyes at his mother as she continued.

"This is the story Danzo will learn. You lured Anko, your mother and the others into an abandoned meeting room in the Uchiha compound. You murdered them there and then set it ablaze to cover your tracks. Unfortunately, Anko Mitarashi's body burned to ash before the fire was put out but the others' bodies will be recovered for examination; to make sure they were indeed the people you were meant to kill. You propagated the rumor to explain the fire. What a good little soldier you are."

"Kaa-san, I don't have to kill you," Itachi insisted desperately. "You can just escape now, like Anko and I'll tell him that you burned too."

Mikoto shook her head. "You were always my brilliant boy, Itachi," she said. "You know why that won't work. After all Anko was just a loud-mouthed little nuisance who supported the Third because he supported her. The real test is me: for you to prove to Danzo that you care more about Konoha than you about your personal feelings.

"So please Itachi," she said as put her hand on his and brought the tanto up, pointing dangerously close to her own stomach. "Just do it."

Itachi was not sure if hands would be shaking if she had not been holding them steady. "Why-why didn't you just kill yourself?!" he yelled out in frustration. "Just leave me a damned suicide note or-or something?"

"Because…if I die, I might as well leave you with something," she told him in a low voice. "You do know what happens to the Uchiha who murders his loved one…don't you?"

Itachi stared at her in disbelief, unable to understand how she could even think of such a thing at a time like this. "I don't want it," he whispered. "I don't want any damn thing that's worth _killing_ your own family over."

"But you'll need them," Mikoto insisted. "Especially if you're going to be facing the Kyuubi when you unlock the seal. Which reminds me; I can't believe I almost forgot. Will you promise me something?"

Itachi swallowed thickly and nodded; all the while trying to find a suitable argument, anything to dissuade her.

"When you get Naruto out, promise me you'll treat him just like Sasuke," she demanded intensely. "Promise me you'll think of him like your own brother. That's the way it was supposed to be. Promise?"

Itachi nodded once more. "I promise," he told her.

"Great," she smiled relieved. To Itachi it looked as though a great weight had lifted from her shoulders, as though she had settled all her affairs and could die in peace now. "Now Itachi," she said urgently, her grip on his hands tightening. "Do it now!"

"No," Itachi persisted stubbornly. "I can't."

"Do it Itachi. Now!"

Her grip was painfully tight, her nails biting into his wrist.

"Please. No."

"Now Itachi! Just do it! NOW!"

"NO!"

And Itachi did not know, would never know if he had pushed the tanto forward or if his mother had stepped forward, plunging the weapon into herself. All he knew was that after a moment, she was slumped against his body, completely still. Dead.

For a moment he just stood there with her in his arms, too stupefied to do anything else. Then his knees buckled together and he was forced to lower her onto the floor and lay her there. He kneeled beside her, brushing his fingers against her face. Her eyes were closed, her face peaceful. She was still so warm…but dead. Lifeless.

She would never look at him again, never talk to him again, and never speak comforting words…And oh Kami…_Sasuke_…She was his mother too. What would he say… how would he feel? Itachi's heart clenched when he thought of his little brother's reaction…Damn it all! Damn it all to _hell._

Itachi realized that his hands were shaking, that the drops of liquid falling onto his mother's face were, in fact, his _tears _(he had not cried in so long, he had forgotten that he was capable of crying at all), that the rasping noise he was hearing was himself, struggling to drown his screams lest anyone should hear and investigate _but why should it matter?_ _Why should any of it matter when his mother was dead and he was the one who had killed her?!_

He had killed before, murdered scores of people…never people he cared about. Was this how it felt? Like he should be dying right now too? Like he _was_ dying, slowly from the inside? Like nothing in the world should matter anymore; everything should just stop existing right_ now?! _

His head was pounding fiercely, as though it was going to split open any moment. His vision was blurry from his tears and he anxiously wiped them away, trying to get a lasting look of his mother before he set her alight. That's when he grasped that there were drops of blood on his mother's face, mixing with his tears. He stared at his gloves, covered in Mikoto's blood.

Hesitantly, he pulled one off and brought his unmarked hand to his face, smeared with tears. Touching his wet face he found that the liquid was thicker than tears. Slowly, he brought his hand back down again.

The pain in his temples only intensified as he stared in morbid horror at his hand. He was crying _blood_.

~/ *** \~

Itachi was sitting on the roof of his house, letting the wind wash over him, when he heard Shisui arrive. The other man was still in his ANBU gear, clearly having just come back from a mission. He was panting as he sat down heavily beside Itachi.

"I just heard," Shisui said breathlessly, "about Mikoto-san. I can't believe it. A whole clan full of people infamous for fire-jutsu and they just _burn_ to death? How is that possible?"

Itachi shrugged his shoulders. "Just because you can't believe it doesn't make it untrue."

Shisui narrowed his eyes at him before looking around. "How's Sasuke holding up? I haven't seen him around…Where is he anyway?"

"Gone," Itachi replied.

"Gone?" Shisui asked, alarmed. "Gone where?"

"Somewhere he can weep in peace before he has to hide it all away at the funeral," Itachi answered tonelessly.

"Oh," Shisui visibly relaxed. "Shit, Itachi…the way you said it. Don't talk like that, okay?"

Itachi nodded wordlessly.

"What about you?" Shisui asked quietly, his eyes full of concern. "How are you holding up?"

"I'm fine," Itachi stated in the same placid voice.

"No you're not," Shisui argued. "Your mother just died, Itachi. You are definitely not fine."

"I _am_ fine," Itachi stated again, with a little more force.

"You don't have to hide in front of me," Shisui reminded him. "I know what it's like to lose a parent. I know that pain. And I know that it seems like no one understands but-"

"With all due respect," Itachi interjected, "people die all the time. It's a part of life. I'm not particularly bothered by it. And this is _nothing_ like your father's death. I was not attacked. She was not murdered," he glanced at Shisui's eye patch, the physical proof of what had happened to the man on that fateful day. Shisui stared back at him with a frown on his eyebrows.

"My mother's death was the result of an accident. It was caused by a number of stupid people who have also paid for their stupidity with their lives. Unlike you, I don't even have revenge to motivate me. So I've accepted it as one of those inescapable things that happen. People die. It happens," he stated, carefully maintaining his stoic voice.

Beside him, Shisui sighed. "If we were just a bit younger," Shisui said, "this is the part where I'd get offended at your nonchalance and punch you. Then you'd hit back and we would express ourselves through our fists. I miss those times, don't you?" Shisui asked.

"All the time," Itachi softly admitted.

"You're not going stop doing this right now, are you?" Shisui asked as he stood up again.

"Nope," Itachi admitted again with a sad smile in Shisui's direction.

"That's cool," Shisui said. "You're hurting but you don't want to talk about it. You're not ready yet. I get it. When you are ready, I'm always willing to lend an ear. I want you to remember that, okay?"

Itachi nodded once more. As Shisui began to leave, Itachi whispered, "Shisui…"

"Yeah?" he turned back to look at his friend.

"I don't think I'll ever want to talk about it…but thanks anyway," he whispered.

"You're welcome…and don't count your chickens before they hatch, my friend," Shisui replied. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go find Sasuke. With you choosing to be a recluse right now, someone's got to comfort the kid."

"I did comfort him," Itachi defended. "I was with him all night. But…I just needed some time to myself. I think Sasuke does too."

"Still, I'll feel better after I've seen the kid," Shisui maintained. "I'll check in with you later." And with that, he was gone.

Itachi laid back down on the tiled roof and felt the wind rush over him. A part of him whimsically wished that the wind would carry him away and would dump him someplace far, far away from Konoha.

~/ *** \~

**A/N:** I'm a day late…Sorry! Well, here's another chapter up. I hope you like it! Oh, and you'll notice that I changed a certain 'best-friend' clause to 'a person you love about' clause. Why, because it's easier this way and because I _can_. It's fanfic after all!

Like it? Hate it? Leave a review!


	7. Taming the Beast

"Do not waste this opportunity," her father was saying. "The Sannin do not choose just any run-of-the-mill ninja to be their apprentices. I expect you to make me proud."

"Of course, Tou-san," she and Kankuro chorused.

In the silence that followed her father's explanation Temari glanced uneasily at the white-haired man beside her, unsure of what these sudden changes meant for the future. She happened to catch his eye in the moment and he smiled a little reassuringly. Out of habit and politeness (living in the Kazekage Palace had accustomed her to meeting various dignitaries in the hallways) she smiled tightly back but then looked away quickly. It was not often that she felt like smiling nowadays.

Temari knew that Sunagakure had lost the war. Everyone knew that they had been on the losing side for ages. The only question had been whether to die fighting or surrender and become a part of Konoha. When Kumo had withdrawn their support, her father had finally made the decision. There would be no more deaths for her village. Only the loss of its pride.

Temari could not deny it. She was relieved. She was disappointed by their crippling failure but relieved none the less. When she had been just a few years younger, in the midst of trying to hold her dysfunctional family together, she had dreamed of becoming a renowned ninja. She had dreamed of glorious battles and losing herself in the fight, proving herself to be worthwhile-superior even-to others in the field. Now she knew that battles were anything but glorious. They just brought endless pain. If Konoha had won, then perhaps the fighting would stop. A begrudging peace was still peace, was it not?

It still frightened her sometimes, just how easily a life could be snuffed even though she had seen it for ages. Despite its constant appearances in her life, death had seemed so unnatural in before. Death was the reason her youngest brother was so feared. People had hated him because he killed. She had hated him because he killed. She knew Gaara was still insane but she was not sure if she hated him anymore. After all, everyone killed. Gaara just did it with fewer inhibitions. A well-aimed kunai, a small amount of poison…the very ground beneath your feet coming to life to swallow you whole…She bit her bottom lip. Yes, Gaara had made killing look so commonplace in their childhood. Now she realized that it really was that commonplace.

Temari had never dared mention these thoughts to anyone but Kankuro and even then with a hesitation. Kankuro had looked uncomfortable with her train of thoughts and had declared that Suna deserved freedom and that Konoha had attacked unprovoked. Temari had told him that these facts did not change the outcome. A war was declared and thousands had died and now there was nothing more to do, making their deaths all the more in vain. Kankuro had protested on grounds that such wars sometimes had to be fought, had she really expected them to surrender at the first notice of a battle? In the end the two had forgotten what they were arguing about in the first place and concluded the conversation more confused than ever.

The people of Suna were stubborn though. Even now there were many who did not value their lives, who thought her father was wrong. They would rather fight to the death for their country. Temari could understand the sentiments. Sometimes, she too felt her blood boil and wanted to lash out at anything, to fight until she had exhausted all her chakra (at times like these Gaara did not seem so insane after all). But these feelings left her as soon as they came and she felt lucky enough to have just survived.

Granted Temari had not seen much of the war. She had received an unofficial promotion to chunin, which often happened in times of war, meaning that she had never been in a real Chunin Exam. According to Baki, she had never seen real war either. She had done a few low-key espionage missions and a few missions to destroy various supplies to Konoha's troops. Her father had kept her well away from the front lines; a sign, perhaps, showing that he still cared just a little?

Most of her horror came from seeing the carnage back at home: the wounded shinobi in the hospitals, the crying families of the dead. Maybe, that's why she felt the way she did, relieved at the end of the carnage. Perhaps to the other, more experienced ninja, this was a way of life. As natural as breathing. As natural as it was for Gaara. Maybe if she had fought that hard and that long as well, she'd be willing to sacrifice her life so easily too.

Her attention was drawn back to her father who was speaking again.

"These conditions are part of an unofficial treaty," he told them somberly. "And they are to be maintained strictly. You will be given new identities. You will no longer be recognized as ninja of Suna. Above all, you will do exactly as your new sensei tells you to. You will walk as he instructs, you will talk as he instructs, and you will obey him."

In spite of herself, Temari glanced at the man beside her again. Jiraiya of the Sannin. Her father really didn't need to stress on the obedience so much. The stuff of legends was standing beside her, offering to teach her. As if she would have the courage to disobey.

She turned to look at Kankuro. Their eyes met and she could tell that he felt as confused as her. She knew that the Hokage was going to set some harsh terms and conditions for peace. But this did not make any sense at all. Why would Konoha need or want her and her brothers?

Her father had summoned them to an underground bunker beneath the Palace and told them of Jiraiya, who wished to train them. Temari, Kankuro and Gaara. Temari could not fathom why. Gaara…she understood. The horrible demon inside him was powerful. Untamable but powerful. Konoha probably wanted him as a weapon. Perhaps they didn't know how truly volatile he was. But why would Konoha, teeming with powerful ninja, want two average (it bothered her slightly to think that) ninja like her and Kankuro?

And what was with that part about it being an 'unofficial treaty'? Did that mean there would be no records of this? Why would Konoha want that? Or was it simply something the Sage wanted?

She remembered that Jiraiya along with the other Sannin, the Slug Princess, had not participated in this war due to their retirement. They had to be in only their fifties which were not really that old; Chiyo was much older. Then again, Jiraiya had most likely seen more than his fair share of wars when he was active. If Temari wanted relief at fourteen, she could not really blame Jiraiya for wanting the same.

Maybe he was bored and wanted to take on a new project. It was not unheard of among the veterans. They missed the rage of battle and engaged in many different antics to fulfill their boredom. Maybe all Jiraiya really wanted was Gaara, her father had just tagged the two of them along for no reason.

Her father walked forward suddenly and they both tensed, perturbed by the whole situation. He stooped in front of them and laid a hand on each of their shoulders. Temari noticed a look in his eyes, one she did not see often. A mixture of worry and affection. She suddenly felt very vulnerable, like a child. She swallowed hard. Beside her, she could hear Kankuro's breathing intensify.

Her father squeezed his hands. "Make me proud," he said again. This time, it sounded less like an order and more like a request, as though he were beseeching. Her father never beseeched. "Suna's future rests with you now."

As suddenly as it came, the show of affection was gone. He removed his hands and turned around. Kankuro exhaled sharply.

"You may take them away, Gama Sennin," he said. Jiraiya only nodded in answer.

As they turned to walk away, Jiraiya graced them with a huge smile and put his hands on their shoulders.

"Don't look so tense," Jiraiya grinned jovially. "I promise I don't bite. We are gonna have a lot of fun together, kids! I'm dying to know more about you. But first, we need to gather the whole family. You dad tells me that you know where he is. Let's go then, shall we?"

Temari could feel the apprehension turning in her stomach and the Sage's cheery attitude did nothing to alleviate it. Jiraiya may not bite but Gaara certainly did.

~/ *** \~

Jiraiya took a quick look at the two siblings trailing behind. They were trekking through the desert a few miles north of the village boundaries to where Temari and Kankuro had said Gaara would be. They were passing through a rocky field, stones protruding here and there from the sand. The hot wind blew across them, bringing little relief. Jiraiya noticed that the two of them stuck close together and maintained a short distance from him. He did not mind. He did not expect them to start trusting him five minutes into their first meeting. It just showed that they were comfortable with each other. They trusted each other. Jiraiya only hoped that he could cultivate the same feelings for Gaara.

"So," Jiraiya pivoted to face them, walking backwards. "Tell me about your brother."

"It shouldn't be long," Temari replied after a second of hesitation. "Just a few more minutes. Gaara usually hangs around the ruins of this old temple in the desert. I think he trains there or something. Or talks to his 'mother'."

Jiraiya frowned, stopping completely and crossing his arms. Following his lead, the siblings stopped too. "No I meant tell me about him. What's he like? What does he do? And what exactly do you mean by 'talks to his mother'? I thought your mother had died."

Kankuro and Temari shared a look, something they seemed to do quite often Jiraiya noted. Kankuro had disbelief spread over his face whereas Temari simply looked wary.

"He's insane," Kankuro stated matter-of-factly. How blunt. Jiraiya almost let out a groan. This was going to much harder than initially believed.

"How so?" Jiraiya asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You're kidding me right?" Kankuro asked incredulously. "Didn't Tou-san tell you anything?"

"He might have," Jiraiya said dismissively, making it seem as though he did not really care about the Kazekage's opinion. "I'm much more interested in your version of the story." He sat down on a wayward rock jutting out of the sand. "Might as well take a seat," he said by way of explanation and gestured to the rest of the rocks. "I've got a feeling that this is going to take a while."

Temari took a seat on another rock but Kankuro remained standing. Jiraiya gestured to him, asking him to continue.

"He's not stable," Kankuro stated. "It's the monster in him. It drove him crazy. I'm not even sure if he's human anymore. If he ever was," he added quietly.

"Oh, he's human alright," Jiraiya replied grimly. "Which makes the reality of it all the more tragic. If you think the demon replaced him or that he's turned into one himself, I can assure you you're wrong." Another quick glance at each other. Exasperation, disbelief, discomfort. They did not like talking about it.

"I'll get to that later," Jiraiya said, determined to get a feel of exactly how much they knew about the poor boy, what they felt for him. Jiraiya could feel pity welling up in him. If his own family felt this way about Gaara, what did the other villagers think? What had they told him, done to him? Just how damaged was he?

"Gaara kills without rhyme or reason," Temari picked up where her brother had left off. Jiraiya noted that she seemed more reserved both in manners and facial expressions than her brother. A sign of a more mature mind which did not like revealing all its secrets. Perhaps she would be easier to get to. She would probably be more willing to look at Gaara in a different light than Kankuro.

"When we were in the same team," she continued wearily, "we constantly had to fear for our lives. One wrong move, one wrong step…If we pissed him off, we'd be killed. He thinks killing's what makes him strong. He always has this…need…to protect himself, even when there's no danger to be protected from." Temari shook her head and sighed.

"Hmmm…," Jiraiya pretended to consider. He put his elbow on his knee and rested his chin on his hand. He could not really blame them for what they thought. That was just what they had been raised to believe. Loneliness had almost certainly driven the boy a little nuts. But couldn't see just how their attitude had affected their brother's mind? Jiraiya refused to believe that he was beyond redemption. All he needed was all any child ever needed: a little kindness and someone to care for them.

"Did you ever think that maybe he wants to protect himself so badly because you guys never stepped up to protect him?" Jiraiya asked quietly. There it was. The armor-piercing question. He could see the distress in their faces. Kankuro shook his head as if he was shaking off his culpability.

"You don't understand," he argued. Jiraiya raised his eyebrows. "How would we ever get close to him? The demon inside him-"

"Would kill you?" Jiraiya asked mockingly. "Did you ever try? I don't think so. I think you were so scared of the demon, you forgot about your brother. And _that's_ what drove him mad. If you tell a bird he can't fly everyday of his life, eventually he starts believing. And then he stops trying to fly."

"What, so it's our fault that he's crazy?" Kankuro asked angrily. His frown made the make-up on his face look even stranger.

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Jiraiya crossed his arms again, daring Kankuro to disagree. "Can you honestly say that he was born this way? As a kid, I bet he didn't even think of killing anyone."

"You're wrong," Temari spoke up quietly. "When he was younger, if we got too close to him, the sand would start moving. Sometimes it would create a wall between us, sometimes it would attack. My uncle was the only one unaffected. Then Gaara killed him."

Jiraiya started in surprise. He knew that assassins had been hired by the Kazekage to hurt Gaara multiple times to test his strength. The Kazekage was too vile for words. But this was news to him. His own uncle? Jiraiya did not think that it was Gaara's fault. Maybe he lost control of his powers. It happened often enough in jinchuriki from what he had read. Jiraiya pursed his lips.

"Tell me about the mother thing," he ordered. Both of them looked surprised at the sudden change in topic.

"Gaara thinks…" Kankuro sighed before continuing. "He thinks that he can hear our mother. He thinks that mother is the one who loves him and protects him. He says that mother tells him to kill people, anyone who dares to get close to him so that he can be safe…"

"Seriously?" Jiraiya asked with a hint of exasperation and incredulity in his voice. He had thought this would be hard. What an understatement. This was turning out to be a gargantuan task that he had set himself. And if the kid was too far gone? Stark, raving mad after all the abuse he went through…

No, Jiraiya steeled himself. He refused to believe that. He could help him. He could fix his seal. And he would will.

Gaara…Kami knows Jiraiya had heard and seen enough of people who heard voices. But in this case it might not be Gaara's imagination. As a Sealing Master, Jiraiya had done a lot of reading up on jinchuriki. He had read about how different seals affected them. He knew that the beasts could sometimes influence the jinchuriki, make them do things they would not normally do, making them more feral and animal-like. Gaara's mother's voice was the beast's voice, influencing his decisions, making his sanity slip.

"We don't really know anything about him for sure," Temari confessed. "He never really talked to us much. We only know what we gathered from when he'd talk to himself. And he's been much worse since…" Temari looked down unsteadily.

"Since?" Jiraiya prompted, leaning forward.

"Since the war," Temari finished in a subdued voice. "Kankuro and I, we've never really seen the front lines much but Gaara..."

"Tou-san tried to use Gaara in the war," Kankuro elucidated. Jiraiya nodded. He knew about that debacle. Konoha had incurred some impressive losses. Still, in the end, the jinchuriki ad been defeated. That was what you got when you threw an untrained teen into the mix and expected him to win the war for you.

"We've always been kept well away from the front lines so, once again, we only know what we've heard. Gaara got pretty badly beat. His ultimate defense turned out to be penetrable. Then he gave the demon full control of his body."

Jiraiya frowned deeply. "And how'd that go?"

Temari shrugged sadly. "About as well as you'd expect."

"Konoha's ninja are crazy," Kankuro stressed. "Gaara went all-out, gave the raccoon-thing complete control. They fought that thing and _won._"

Despite everything, Jiraiya's lips curled into a small smile when he thought of Minato and the First Hokage, both of whom had taken on the Nine-Tailed Beast and won. Jiraiya's smile turned a little wider. "Crazy?" Jiraiya snorted good-naturedly. "Kid, you haven't seen _anything_ yet!"

Jiraiya had to laugh a little at their dumbstruck expressions. "Don't worry," Jiraiya assured them. "Stick with me and you'll learn soon enough. Now go on with the story. This is getting interesting."

"Well, anyway," Temari hurriedly continued, "since then…I guess he's had a bit of an identity crisis. He couldn't defeat them and he had to be rescued on Tou-san's orders or something. He's been out here most of the time. Like I said I think he trains."

"He definitely smashes things a lot, not to mention the yelling-" Kankuro started to add.

"In short, he's gotten worse," Jiraiya repeated Temari's words from earlier. Temari tightened her lips and nodded. Jiraiya sighed heavily at the daunting task before him and then stood up. No sense in wasting any more time listening. He could do that after he had recruited the kid.

"I think I get what's wrong with him," Jiraiya declared to surprised looks.

"You do?" Kankuro asked apprehensively. Jiraiya grinned at him which, apparently, did nothing to dissuade his fears.

"Thanks to his isolation and loneliness, he turned to the only thing he had for company," Jiraiya explained with a grim smile. "The demon inside him. And since the demon and its sand is what have been protecting him this whole time, I'm guessing he confused that for love or motherly affection. Poor kid." Jiraiya shook his head. "When he was younger, he couldn't control the sand. As he grew up, he didn't want to. Not when he believed that that's all he had to shield him from harm. If he'd had just a bit more human companionship…"

"You make it sound as though it's all our fault," Kankuro grumbled almost imperceptibly. Jiraiya graced him with a disapproving look.

"All you fault? No," Jiraiya bit out. "Your father's? A great deal. But Jiraiya of the Sannin is here to fix his mistakes!" Jiraiya proclaimed loudly. "Honestly, you can trust me. I will fix this."

Kankuro and Temari exchanged another look (Jiraiya was almost getting tired of this now) before the former spoke up.

"With all due respect, sir," Kankuro started hesitantly. "I don't think that's possible."

Jiraiya fixed him with his look. His don't-you-doubt-me-I-know-what-I'm-doing look. He had used it often enough when his students used to doubt his training methods.

"You may not think so, Kankuro," Jiraiya emphasized each word confidently. "But I know so."

~/ *** \~

Jiraiya stared out at the raging sandstorm in front of him and let out a groan. He saw that Kankuro was fixing him with a look of his own: a well-known I-told-you so look. Damn. With all this sand flying around, how was he even supposed to get close to Gaara? He did not want to hurt the kid.

Temari's knuckles had whitened, Jiraiya noticed, from holding her giant fan too tightly. Kankuro's fingers were shaking too. They really are terrified of Gaara, Jiraiya thought sadly. But they did not ask to be left out, did not even let out a whimper. He realized that if he ordered it they would follow him into the eye of the storm, shaking fingers and all. Awfully brave of them, Jiraiya was impressed. But there was no need to put the kids into any more stress. He did not want them to get hurt if a fight broke out. Not that he wanted to fight Gaara but from all that he had heard-well, he had to be realistic.

"I'm going to try and talk to him," Jiraiya told them and then gestured to the fields behind him. "Why don't you two wait this out?"

The relief was palpable on their faces and Kankuro exhaled again. They had a lot of nervous ticks that had to be exorcised; Jiraiya absent-mindedly listed them in the back of his mind. Regardless of their evident relief, Temari still asked him in a quavering voice, "Are you sure?"

Jiraiya smiled warmly at both of them, touched by their concern. They were good kids, really; they were just following the system of principles and prejudice that they had been taught. Well, Jiraiya would stamp that out soon enough. But first things first-

"I'm sure," Jiraiya reassured them confidently. "Go on, scoot."

They stepped down from their perch on the rock and made their way back to the rocky field where they had stopped to have their conversation. Jiraiya watched them go for a minute before turning to face the swirling storm in front of him. He could not even see the old ruined temple anymore. Supposedly, according to Sunagakure's folklore, this was where the evil priest had resided before being sealed into the kettle, turning into the One-Tailed Shukaku. Of course, Konoha had a different version of the myth.

Jiraiya jumped down from the rock as well and landed on the hot desert sand. Immediately his feet began sinking into the sand. Jiraiya grimaced and lifted an arm to shield his eyes from the sand. Belatedly, he thought that he should have brought a pair of sunglasses.

Well, too late for that now.

Jiraiya and moved forward, pushing against the pulsating sand. He could feel it sticking to his clothes, his hair, even getting on his skin and he was growing irritated with. The first thing he was going to do after reaching home was taking a long shower and rinsing all of this damn sand off. He had not been here long and he was already sick of the desert.

"Hey, um, Gaara?" Jiraiya called out, cringing when he was rewarded with a mouthful of sand. He spat and tried again, the grit sticking to his tongue. "Look kid, I just wanna talk to you. You think you could stop this sandstorm for a minute?" He called again. No response.

"Come one! This is getting pretty annoying!" Jiraiya voiced his frustration loudly. "I promise it'll be worth your time."

For a brief moment, he thought Gaara would not respond. But the rage in his ears lessened and swirling slowed until the sand lay at his feet and Jiraiya got his first look at Sabaku no Gaara in person, under the harsh sunlight.

Kankuro and Temari were not kidding. Gaara looked almost demented. His eyes looked too wide, glaring at him fiercely regardless of the bright sunlight and the lack of eyebrows was not helping matters much. He had his arms crossed tightly across his chest; the gourd full of sand he carried was lying at his feet. Gaara was obviously waiting for him to say something but Jiraiya remained quiet, waiting for Gaara to make the first move. The silence stretched between them for some time, the only sound being the howl of the wind which had refused to cease. Jiraiya grew tired of the wait and was almost about to speak up when his patience was finally rewarded.

"What," Gaara asked in a voice that was harsh and flat at the same time, "do you want?"

"To train you," Jiraiya said simply.

Gaara blinked his eyes in astonishment. If he had had eyebrows, Jiraiya mused, they would be furrowed right now. Gaara was still very much capable of conveying a frown as demonstrated a second later.

"What?" Gaara growled out and Jiraiya gave the kid some credit in his mind. For the life of him he could not fathom what Gaara was thinking from his expressions.

"I want to train you," Jiraiya repeated again. "You could, you know, become my disciple and I'd teach you how to become strong."

"…Become strong?" Gaara murmured and Jiraiya could see that he had said the right thing. Gaara was hooked now. He ignored the snide little voice in his head that deprecated him for just how Orochimaru-ish he was acting at the moment. "Why would _you_ want to train _me_?" Gaara asked in the same hoarse voice. "More _importantly_, just who are you?"

Jiraiya hesitated and Gaara narrowed his eyes dangerously. He had common sense, knew not to take the offer of candy without knowing who the creepy old man was. Helpful in the long run but right now Jiraiya was sorely wishing that the common sense department was a little lacking. He did not want to hold a full-blown conversation out here where the whole area was Gaara's playing field. It would be easier if he could get him into a calmer environment to explain things but Gaara was not budging.

"I'm Jiraiya," he answered at last. He could see no hint of recognition in Gaara's face. Maybe the kid had not paid much attention. If he had ever even gone that is. "I heard a lot about you," Jiraiya continued. "And I thought that you deserved more than what you got. Usually when I set my mind to something, I get it done." What a big fat lie. For all his strength and skill he had failed at nearly everything he had tried his hand in. "So here I am," Jiraiya finished.

"You would…just take me and train me? Just like that?" Gaara asked.

Jiraiya nodded. "Just like that," he confirmed.

Gaara said nothing in response to that. He was still frowning and Jiraiya could not tell if he was considering it or not. He hoped he was.

"Look kid," Jiraiya started to say, "I know your father-"

_Oh Shit._

He barely had a moment to notice the muscles in Gaara's arms tensing, his eyes narrowing in determination and the wind starting to pick up speed before he was forced to jump up onto a rock to avoid the column of sand slamming onto the ground.

_Shit. Shit. Shit._ And he had thought that this had been going so well.

"You know," Jiraiya called out with a hard face, "a simple 'No thank you' would have sufficed."

"You're lying," Gaara growled out angrily. "You're not here to train me; you're here to kill me. Just like everyone else, mother told me so!" His voice had risen to a yell. "But I won't let you! I'LL KILL _YOU_!"

Jiraiya flinched at the sudden change of tone. Kami what had he said to make him think like that? This must be Gaara's defense mechanism to everything: if it approaches, kill it with sand before it kills you. Damn it all.

"You're wrong," Jiraiya insisted from his perch. "I'm not here to kill you; I honestly want to train you-"

"LIAR!" Gaara screamed out and another wave of sand crashed into the rock forcing Jiraiya to move again and land onto the desert floor. Damn this kid was strong. Immediately his feet began sinking at a rapid pace. He could feel the sand tightening around his ankles getting ready to crush him any second.

Hurriedly Jiraiya lurched backwards, managing to free himself but losing his sandals in the process. He hissed as his bare feet made contact with the hot sand; then huffed out a breath when he heard Gaara scream in frustration. The gourd was still at his feet, Jiraiya noticed. He knew from the Kazekage that gourd contained specialized sand mixed with chakra, something that was easy for Gaara to control. But the kid was controlling ordinary desert sand in order to get to Jiraiya from this distance.

Or maybe Jiraiya had spoken to soon. As he watched, the gourd started to dissolve into sand, floating around their commander. Gaara raised his fingers and the sand charged towards Jiraiya at a frightening pace.

Jiraiya scrambled backwards only to realize the accursed desert floor had already gotten a good grip on his ankle. He was stuck. The sand Gaara had released was making its way over his body and dimly Jiraiya heard Gaara call out the name of his attack.

"Sand Burial!"

Jiraiya ground his teeth. Enough was enough. He forced his arms to move despite the restricting particles and bit his finger before forming the well-known hand seals.

"Summoning Jutsu!"

He burst through the sand encasing him and suddenly he was far beyond the reach of Gaara's attacks, looking down at the boy from the head of his faithful summoned toad. Jiraiya yelled out once more, "If I wanted to kill you, believe me I could have done the minute I first laid eyes on you. That's not my intention. Now stop this stupid little game and just listen to me!"

He heard Gaara growl out and he saw him forming more hand seals, refusing to admit defeat. The sand started gathering at his feet, raising him up. Did he plan on gaining the same level of elevation Jiraiya had? Or did he… Jiraiya narrowed his eyes. He knew Gaara could release Shukaku and if that happened, Jiraiya would be in even deeper shit.

Jiraiya raised his hand and concentrated his chakra into a familiar spiral shape, his deceased student's favorite technique. He made sure not to put too much effort into it though, he needed to break through Gaara's defenses not kill him.

With a yell he launched himself through the air, his outstretched arm holding the orb of chakra. He saw Gaara's sand scrambling to go from the offensive to the defensive, forming a thick barrier between Gaara and his opponent-

"Rasengan!"

Jiraiya's attack hit and the barrier of sand managed to hold out for a second-just a second-before the Rasengan plowed through it and onto the other side. Jiraiya panted slightly as the barrier fell apart into loose sand once. On the other side, Gaara was laying face-down and unconscious.

Jiraiya trudged over and nimbly turned him around. His shirt was singed from the impact and there was a small burn on his chest but it was nothing too serious, thankfully. Nothing that would warrant going to a medic for anyhow. A little soothing balm and he'd be up and at it in no time. Hopefully, the 'it' would not be anymore attempts at 'defending' himself.

Jiraiya let out a sigh. What a long day. He waved over to Gamahiro who was still waiting patiently for any further orders. If he had summoned Gamabunta, no doubt he would be currently facing a barrage of insults thrown his way. He smiled wearily at him.

"Thanks a bunch my friend," Jiraiya said. Gamahiro croaked a little before disappearing into a puff of smoke.

Slowly Jiraiya scooped up Gaara into his arms and headed for the way where Temari and Kankuro were waiting. He wondered what they would say.

~/ *** \~

When Gaara woke up, he immediately realized two things. First was that the stinging in his chest proved that he was still alive, that 'Jiraiya' had not killed him. The second was that he could no longer hear Mother's voice in his head.

'_Mother?'_ he called in his mind but there was no response.

He bolted upright in alarm and looked down at himself. He was covered in a cream-coloured blanket in a foreign bed. He was also wearing a new shirt. He reached inside and touched the area where the stinging sensation was (taking in that someone had bandaged him) and hissed in pain, despising that seldom felt sensation with all his might.

"Glad to see you're awake."

Gaara's head whipped around and panic seized his chest as he saw the white-haired man casually sitting on a chair next to the wall, grinning at him. His fists seized the blanket as he grasped that he did not have his sand with him, he could not hear Mother's voice and there was nothing, nothing at all, to protect him-

"Relax," the man called Jiraiya said quietly, adopting a tone that Yashamaru had often used with Gaara before. It made Gaara hate this man even more. He gnashed his teeth in loathing.

"What did you do to Mother?" Gaara growled out in anger and fear.

"Your mother?" Jiraiya raised his eyebrows. "Nothing, absolutely nothing. Shukaku, on the other hand, well him I sealed away." Gaara's eyes widened in horror at what he had said. Sealed Mother away?

"Don't worry, you can still use your sand," Jiraiya added hastily. "In fact, now you'll be able to do more. Now you'll be able to do more. You'll be able to sleep."

"Sleep?" Gaara asked incredulously, fury seeping through him. "You-"

"Why don't you listen to _me _for just a second?" Jiraiya interrupted. "And we'll see how that goes."

Gaara growled but otherwise kept quiet. Without Mother and his sand in his possession, he was completely at this man's mercy. He had no choice but to obey.

"Good," Jiraiya smiled at him and Gaara almost cringed. "Now, honestly tell me, do you really think that Shukaku is your mother?" he asked seriously.

"Of course," Gaara replied instantly. "She protects me."

"_It_ protects _itself_," Jiraiya corrected softly, "and by extension you because you are currently its host. Shukaku doesn't love you, Gaara. I don't even know if something like that is capable of love."

"She cares about me," Gaara insisted heatedly. "No one else, no one else ever could. No one understands!"

"Most of us don't," Jiraiya agreed, "but some of us do. You are not the first of your kind, Gaara, and sadly you probably won't be the last."

Gaara stared at him, trying to process what he was saying. "There are more…like me?" Gaara whispered uncertainly and something swelled up inside his chest, the realization that maybe he could find someone who would know what it felt like, that terrible loneliness. It had never occurred to him that there could be others who shared his burden, who knew what it was like to have to share your mind and body with something else. He had always been so alone.

Stop, he ordered himself. Don't go down that road again. If you trust others, they'll only let you down. They exist only to hurt you.

Jiraiya was nodding. "People like you are called jinchuriki. They have demons sealed into them so that they can be used as weapons. They are punished for the sins of others, forced to live in solitude for a crime they didn't commit," Jiraiya explained in that same soft voice. His eyes were sad, Gaara thought, just like his own used to be.

"I…" Gaara started, unsure of what to say to that. "If what you say is true," he continued, "then I am right. No one can care for me except for myself. That's what makes me strong. They'll all hate me no matter what I do!"

Gaara shut his eyes and he refused to cry, not when he had been so strong for so long. It still hurt though, the fact that no one would ever look at him with anything but hatred. The only one who spoke to him without pretending was Mother. And now she was gone too.

Gaara felt something touch his shoulder and he flinched back, terrified of the contact. Jiraiya didn't let go. He held on to Gaara's shoulder and kneeled before him.

"That's not what makes you strong," Jiraiya told him sternly but without any harshness. "When you fight for only yourself, you _always_ lose because that's not enough. Fighting for people who are precious to you-_that's_ what makes you strong. When you fight for someone you love, you keep fighting no matter what. You push past your limits till they're not even there anymore. That's when you become strong. And when you protect others with that strength, you'll see. They'll have no choice but to protect you," he smiled.

Gaara tore his gaze away from Jiraiya's smiling face and shook his head. "No one's precious to me. "Haven't you been listening to me? No one cares about me! No one but Mot-"

"I care about you," Jiraiya interjected and Gaara stared at him wide-eyed and disbelieving. "I do. I wasn't lying when you decided to off me. Shukaku doesn't care about you but I do. I want to train you, show you how to really become strong."

Gaara looked at him, teetering on the edge of believing him and thinking that he was lying again, just like Yashamaru had. He had convinced Gaara that he cared and then tried to stab him in the back. "People…always let you down," he whispered, unable to contain the tears that fell at the memory.

"People can be stupid like that sometimes," Jiraiya surprisingly agreed. "We're only human after all. But you'll see they can't ignore you forever. Prove them wrong. Show them that you don't deserve their hatred. If you persevere, against all odds if you keep on being kind to them, eventually they'll have to reciprocate."

Gaara scrunched up the sheet in his fists, wondering if Jiraiya was right. But he had tried so hard before. They had ignored him anyway. Did he not try hard enough? Or was he wrong? People could not change…

"Look you tried it your way," Jiraiya told him. "Cared only about yourself and fought that way. But you got beat up again and again. You lost to Konoha, you lost to me… Why don't you try it my way? I'll protect you and you protect me. Then we can both get stronger. Eventually you'll find other people to care about you too."

It couldn't hurt…could it? What did he have to lose? Mother…Shukaku was already gone…He felt so weary, so tired of everything all the time. He remembered when the Konoha shinobi had struck him down. He had felt panic when he thought that he was dying but then he had felt relieved. He hadn't cared any longer, death had seemed strangely trivial. Maybe when you didn't have anyone to care for, you didn't have a reason to live either...what would be the point…?

"Fine," Gaara said at last, if a little sourly and hesitantly. "I'll…try it your way. I'll protect you…if you promise to protect me." And he would. Jiraiya and the Konoha Nin, they had had something that Gaara did not. That was why they had won against him. If that thing was love, if Jiraiya was capable of loving him he could become strong too. He had tried isolation for such a long time but it had burned him, his philosophy had failed him. If someone cared for him, maybe it was time to give them a chance. Just one chance. And if it didn't work…If it did not work, death would be welcome. He hardly had any reason to live either way.

What was his purpose in life, he had often wondered and Mother had always answered: _To protect yourself. To become strong. To hurt anyone who would dare to touch you._ It had never seemed like enough of a reason, his own life had never seemed worth all the pain he went through, his life had never seemed worth protecting but he followed Mother's answer through and through anyway because she was the only one who cared. But Jiraiya claimed to care for him too and Mother was gone now. Maybe she had been wrong. Maybe his purpose in life was to protect Jiraiya so that Jiraiya could protect him too. Maybe Jiraiya really could find him other people who would want to protect him. People who would be precious to him.

Jiraiya grinned brightly with his eyes shining and Gaara momentarily let go of his chain of thought, recognizing that this was the first time _he_ had made anyone _smile_, was actually the cause of someone's happiness. It was a new feeling. He'd hold onto that feeling for now.

"Great," Jiraiya grinned. "While you're at it, why don't you give your brother and siblings a chance too?"

"They hate me," Gaara stated immediately, unwilling to meet with them. They had never looked at him like Jiraiya had just a moment before. One person who cared was enough; protecting just one person was enough. He was willing to give Jiraiya's idea just _one_ try.

"No they don't," Jiraiya argued. "They're just a little…scared. But not for long. If you want people to acknowledge you for who you, you have to start with family. Remember what I said. If you care about them, they'll care about you too. They can't and won't ignore you forever."

Gaara stared at the sheet, trying to grasp what was happening. There was a feeling in his chest, his heart was thumping and the blood was in his ears but he still felt strangely exhilarated. Hopeful? If you care about them, they'll care about you too. He hoped with all his heart that that was true. He was so tired of being alone, of being feared. He raised his hand to his cheek and wiped away the tears. He was so tired of crying.

~/ *** \~

"Nee-chan?" Naruto asked, leaning against the huge door.

"Hmmm?" Nee-chan's voice came from the other side.

"People live in families," Naruto stated slowly, trying to phrase the question that had been plaguing his mind for some time now. "I've seen them."

There was a soft rustling noise before she replied, "Yes, they do. So what?"

"Do you have a family?" he asked hesitantly. She was often unwilling to talk much about herself. She would regale him with tales of the real world but whenever he asked what she used to do there, she never answered him.

"Not really. Like I said I'm-" she started to answer but Naruto interrupted her.

"Special, yeah, I know," Naruto said before biting his lip. He wondered if nee-chan would refuse to answer his questions right now because of this little interruption. But he had to know the answer to this question. He had seen the way mothers and fathers acted with their children and the curiosity was killing him. "Do I have a family?" he asked quietly.

There was long pause and Naruto thought that he had messed it up; nee-chan wasn't going to answer his questions anymore when she finally spoke.

"You used to," she said, her voice so soft that Naruto almost did not hear her.

"A mother? And a father?" Naruto asked eagerly, wanting to know more about them.

"…Yes. They're gone now, though."

"Oh," Naruto's face fell. He wondered if he was going to meet them once the Shinigami took them to the real world. He was disappointed to know that was not the case. It had seemed nice, the way they treated their children. Once upon a time, nee-chan was all he had needed. But after seeing the many different types of people that lived out there, he wanted to talk to them all, know what they knew, hear their stories just like he listened nee-chan's ones. "What happened to them?"

"They died…A long time ago," she said in that same soft voice. So they had ceased to exist too. Most of the times, Naruto noticed, she would answer his questions in a loud voice but sometimes he would ask a question and her voice would grow so soft that Naruto almost could not hear what she was saying. Like that time when he had asked her if she would stay with him.

"So…I don't have a family anymore?" Naruto asked a little crestfallen.

"You do!" Nee-chan said suddenly in a loud voice and Naruto jumped a little shock, splashing the water around. "You have me don't you?" And her voice had grown quiet again.

"Are we related?" Naruto asked, surprised. The Shinigami had explained the relation of blood, how families and clans were formed based on that relationship. "You never mentioned anything."

"No, you idiot," she said and her voice turned a little harsh. Naruto winced. "We're not related. But you don't have to be related to have family. When people care a lot about each other, they're family too. You care about me don't you?"

"Of course!" Naruto replied brightly because he realized that nee-chan was his family all along. "So you're my family?" Naruto asked, just for confirmation.

He could hear nee-chan let out a deep sigh. "I am," she said and Naruto almost did not hear her again. "Heaven help me, I am."

~/ *** \~

"It was him, Danzo-sama," the Root agent stated. "Itachi Uchiha carried out your orders and murdered his family. It has been proven. He is loyal only to Konoha."

"Are you certain?" Danzo asked.

"Absolutely," he confirmed. "I have carefully monitored his actions and attitude in the aftermath and while he seems broken about it, he does not seem to regret it from what I can tell. He has done a very good job of hiding his emotions. It is unfortunate that Anko Mitarashi's body could not be recovered but I think that his clansmen's bodies are proof enough of his loyalty."

"And did he awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan yet?" Danzo inquired.

"I am unsure," the Root Nin answered. "If he has, he has made no attempt to train with it. I am very certain he would have told me if he had."

"That's good," Danzo exhaled. "I worried about him. His mother was close to the Third and he never trained under Root. He was too strong an asset to lose but too strong to trust completely either. I had to be sure of his loyalty so I ordered him to his own family, to see how far he would go for his village. Now I am sure that Itachi Uchiha is completely loyal to Konoha."

~/ *** \~

"You want us to go up there and ask him to dinner?!" Kankuro asked as though Jiraiya had just asked him to walk into a shark tank covered in blood. They were sitting in a tavern in a small village in the Wind Country. After Jiraiya had knocked out Gaara, they had travelled until they were pretty far away from Sunagakure. Toads could travel surprisingly fast. Gaara was in a room upstairs and they were down in the restaurant, holding a conversation with Jiraiya about Gaara.

"I mean, we're supposed to believe that one conversation with you cured a lifetime of crazy?" Kankuro asked rhetorically.

"Yep," Jiraiya grinned proudly. "Because I am just that good."

Kankuro rolled his eyes and Temari looked down steadily, unwilling to seem like a coward but also unwilling to be in a confined space with her younger brother even if he did not have his sand anymore.

"The kid's not the incarnation of the devil," Jiraiya retorted. "Stop acting like it. If you treat him kindly, he'll treat you kindly too. Just ask him nicely. He's your brother; you can't honestly tell me that you don't care at all for him!"

"Gaara makes it really hard to care for him," Temari pointed out.

"No he doesn't," Jiraiya maintained. "When I went up there, he was crying. He was crying because he thought no one cared about him, that he was hated everywhere. A little kid not having anyone in the world because of something he can't control. Can you imagine living like that?"

Temari looked at her feet uncomfortably. She remembered thinking that Gaara was evil once. Then the war had turned her opinion around and she had not known what to think anymore.

"I'm not asking you to go up there and smother him with hugs and kisses," Jiraiya was saying. "Just ask him to dinner. Hold a civil conversation with him. Baby steps."

"Baby steps," Kankuro groaned. "You can't be serious!"

"I'll go," Temari spoke up quietly and both her companions turned to look at her; Jiraiya proudly and Kankuro looking concerned.

"Are you sure?" Kankuro asked cautiously.

"He is my youngest brother," Temari shrugged. She was, if fact, very unsure but she did not want to back out now. "And if we're going to be travelling together maintaining a civil relationship sounds like a pretty good idea."

With that, she marched off, her steps confident at first but then slowing down as she reached the room her brother was in. She raised her fist and then knocked tentatively. She received no answer. Trembling she pushed open the door. She saw that Gaara was on the bed, his arms wrapped around his knees. For a moment, Temari could see what Jiraiya meant. He looked so vulnerable, fragile even. But then he turned his cold blue eyes to her and the fear returned.

She swallowed hard before continuing. "Gaa-Gaara," she said with a soft quiver. "We're um having dinner. Would you like to join us?" she asked.

Her brother blinked at her before slowly getting out of the bed and walking towards the door. Temari moved aside to let him through, let out the breath she was holding and then followed him downstairs.

~/ *** \~

**A/N: **So my first ever fight scene is a little...bleh. I'm sure I'll improve by the time the real action kicks in though (hopefully). In my defense this fight was woefully one-sided from the start. Reviews are much appreciated!


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